Daggers And Cliffhangers
by Eleanor Pepperland
Summary: As the title states, there are cliffhangers. It's a story about love, my favorite subject. Otto may find love in a girl who is all the more dangerous to love. Meet a Russian girl who can't afford to love. Rated T for language and possible scenes.
1. Recoil

**My first H.I.V.E. fanfic!**

**Woohooo!**

**As usual, I own nothing but my OC, Innokentiy Juliet Thomas.**

**Mark Walden ROCKS.**

* * *

The recoil from the dart rifle made Juliet fall back. She was always such in good control of the various weapons she used. She wondered what happened.

"Ouch," she muttered to herself, putting the gun down. She, Juliet Thomas, was an assasin. Half-Russian. Half-British. Her mother was dead. She'd taken the death of her mother very badly. And when Juliet was sad or angry, she'd fire something to calm down. Not long before, she'd gotten into H.I.V.E. And made a few good friends. Otto, Wing, Shelby, And Laura.

"Hey J," said a voice far behind her.

She turned around. It was only Otto.

"Hey,"she replied as the boy with white hair drew near.

"Bad day?"

"No."

Which was a lie. She was feeling especially sad today because it was the most dreaded day in her life.

The eve of Valentines Day.

Tomorrow, she would be perhaps the only girl in all of H.I.V.E. to not get something because boys thought her a threat to their so-called masculinity(1).

Ha.

"I know you, Juliet. You're lying," said Otto, smirking.

"Perhaps."

Otto stared at her. She felt an odd sense of vulnerability. No one ever did stare at her. Much less a boy. That was the very reason why she had developed a love for the shadows. She felt impure. Violated. She hated anyone who stared at her. But she couldn't hate Otto.

He was her best friend.

"So what do you think they'll do to me tomorrow?" asked Otto teasingly.

"Maybe bombard you with chocolates, cards, letters, and maybe the occasional marriage proposal," she replied.

"Funny. Very funny."

* * *

The next day, Otto woke with a start. As usual, Wing slept undisturbed. Good. He was dying to try out that new wake up technique he learned from Juliet, or J as she liked to be called.

"Shelby isn't a virgin anymore."

Immediately after he said those words, Wing's hand curled up into a fist a punched Otto in the stomach.

Otto fell to the floor.

"Sorry there, Otto. Now, why would you lie to yourself? And I too learned that from Kent," said Wing, using Juliet's other nickname.

"Nevermind that. Do you know what day it is?"

"Your favorite one."

"Valentines."

Otto showered, put on his uniform, and followed Wing down to the mess hall.

Once there, the pair were bombarded with, as Juliet said, chocolates, cards, letters, and the proposals. The words uttered by the fan girls echoed through Otto's head.

"I LOVE YOU!"

"JE T'AIME!"

"TI AMO!"

"TE AMO!"

Wing was also in abundance of valentine related crap, so only one sentence echoed through his head.

"TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF, DAMN YOU! (2) "

He did not know what was particularly attractive about what was under his shirt.

They carried the numerous gifts they received from the girls, and gingerly waited in line for food. Many still ogled. Once they'd gotten their food, two familiar figures approached the table.

Shelby and Laura.

They too had gifts in their hands, while juggling the food tray in the other. Nevertheless, they arrived.

"I hate valentines day," said Laura.

"I don't think anyone does like it," replied Shelby. Ever since the incident concerning Cypher, Shelby had been trying to hide the fact that she was heels over head (3) for Wing. But Wing knew. He still chuckled to himself when he remembered the words that slipped out of Shelby's mouth.

_"You know, you're kinda cute when you're angry."_

_"Then at this precise moment I can honestly say that I am cuter than I have ever been before."_

A snappy reply that probably made Shelby's heart stop beating.

Probably.

The fabulous four continued to list down what they hated about valentines day when Otto suddenly realized something.

"Guys, where's Juliet?"

"Dunno," replied Laura.

"Maybe she's off training," said Shelby.

"Go find her, Otto," said Wing.

And he did. Juliet was being followed by twenty or so boys in black uniforms. Otto chuckled. Innokentiy Juliet Thomas was being asked various questions in different tongues. He doubted she understood them all.

* * *

**(1) Ha! This is my favorite so far. =P  
**

**(2) How the world wishes this would happen. XD**

**(3) Another song. This one's by Boys Like Girls this time.**

**You know the drill, kid. Rate & Review, NOW! 8D**


	2. I Swear I Won't Forget You

**Second chapter, people! **

**If you have read the first chapter, I bet you're DYING to read this.**

**Oh yeah, Innokentiy is a Russian boy's name. And Juliet is sort of pissed because of that. But then again, Otto kinda sorta thinks it's quite… attractive. :P**

**And no, White Replica, it's not an Otto/Wing fanfic. **

**But do enjoy. **

**I own nothing but dear Innokentiy Juliet Thomas, and a new character to be introduced in this chapter, Clarissa Alison "Claire" Haruno. **

**H.I.V.E. ROCKS!**

**

* * *

  
**Juliet walked slowly to their table.

Damn, these lads are hard to shake off, she thought to herself.

Innokentiy Juliet Thomas didn't regularly get valentines gifts.

She supposed it was because she was presumed a boy because of her name.

Innokentiy.

Why did her mother name her this way?

"Hi guys," she said softly to the fabulous four.

"Are they bothering you, Kent?" asked Otto as she tried to sit down.

How nice. Juliet blushed on the inside. It was nice of Otto to think of her. No one ever thought of her safety.

"I can take care of myself, Otto, thank you very much," she replied, tucking a strand of white blond hair behind her ear.

Otto looked unsettled.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, his eyes filled with care.

"Otto, my friend, Juliet can take care of herself. She's an assassin, Otto, I think she can," said Wing calmly. Wing was easily amused at how when it came to Juliet's well-being, Otto always wanted to make sure she was fine.

"Yeah I am, Otto, I assure you. Thanks Wing."

"So how's it like being a heartthrob?" asked Shelby.

"You are one, Shel. I think you of all people know."

Wing was absolutely certain Shelby adored him. But he had his sights on a girl from Japan.

Claire Haruno.

And she was beautiful. Jet-black hair, pronounced cheekbones, azure blue eyes, and to his great pleasure, a ninja.

Said beauty was beside Juliet. What a sight they were. They both had pronounced cheekbones and fine features. But it was like yin and yang. Claire's dark, pulled back hair contrasted sharply with Juliet's long, platinum blond strands which fell upon her shoulders. Claire's striking blue eyes, which mirrored the ocean differed from Juliet's cold, steel grey, which mirrored, well... a mirror.

"How about you, Claire? Perhaps you too got some attention."

"Just a bit. I see you even have fan girls."

Otto cleared his throat. Shelby's face reddened and reddened.

With fury, obviously.

Wing stopped caring about Shelby ages ago.

This was CLAIRE HARUNO he was talking to.

He liked the fact she was Japanese, so he could talk to her in his native tongue.

"I see I have training with Raven today. Do you want to go with me, Claire?"

"Sure."

The pair went off to the place where they trained. Claire was carrying her H.I.V.E. duffel bag which contained all her gear. Wing offered to carry it for her, but she refused.

Who did Wing think she was, Juliet?

Okay, nothing against her friend/roommate, but even if Juliet was an assassin, the best thing she did was not die very easily.

Oh yeah, and kill other people.

"So I heard there was a ball tonight," said Wing, breaking Claire out of her trance.

"Yeah."

"Would you like to come with me?"

She nearly dropped her duffel.

Nearly.

She never thought Wing extremely attractive before, but lately he was becoming more and more...

Hot.

"Like on a date?"

Now Wing nearly dropped his duffel.

Never had he heard the word pass through those pink lips of hers.

"I guess so."

"Okay."

Okay. SHE SAID OKAY!

Wing got in his room a few hours before the ball to find Otto attempting to fix his hair. Scattered around him was tons of tubs of gel, mousse, wax, and several other random items like shavers, cufflinks, and bottles of aftershave.

"Hello."

"Hello, Wing. Have you asked her out?"

"Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about."

"Claire?"

"Yes, Claire, your perfect little Claire, the girl you'd love to take home to Japan and marry."

He was being mocked by Otto. Otto.

"Yes, I have, and you, Romeo, have you asked her out?"

He, obviously, was referring to Juliet.

"Yes. I'd climb walls and fences just to see her on some balcony asking for me in poetic verses."

"Ah. Would you take her back to London and marry her too?"

"......"

Wing adjusted and re-adjusted his necktie in front of the mirror. He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath, and his black tie. His shoes were black, and his hair was in a low ponytail, as usual, but this time he gelled it back.

He adjusted the necktie one last time before bounding down the stairs to the dining hall. He waited.

Claire laced up her trainers underneath the gown. The gown she'd worn was beautiful and all, and she was wearing amazing shoes, but this was WING FANCHU she was going with. The gown was purple, made of silk, floor-length, a bit fitted round the bodice, and comfortable. She fastened the clasp of her heirloom necklace.

Before she laced herself into the corset.

Juliet, her roommate, was wearing black from head to toe. Her dress was 3/4 sleeve, also a bit tight round the bodice, had a square neckline, also floor-length, but was made of satin. Juliet quickly fastened the clasp of the black choker she was wearing. Juliet nearly fainted when Otto Malpense asked her. A few lashings of mascara later, the two girls were ready.

Juliet looked for a white-haired boy in the mess of people. Otto.

Claire looked around for the tallest person there. Wing.

Juliet ruffled Otto's hair.

"Hey! Why'd- oh, hey," said Otto once a person ruffled his hair. She was breathtakingly beautiful. The black was gorgeous.

"Hey to you too," replied Juliet.

"Want to dance?" asked Otto all of a sudden.

"Sure," she said softly.

Otto led her to the dance floor. There was a really good song playing. It was utterly romantic.

_"And I'll forget the world that I knew, but I swear I won't forget you..."_

He waltzed her around the room gently, as if she was the most precious thing in the world. She rested her head on his shoulder.

* * *

**Right, now, that song at the end was Vanilla Twilight by Owl City, if you want to download or whatever.**

**Rate, Review, and wait for my next chapter. **

**XD**


	3. The Return of Constantine

**THE THIRD CHAPTER! At last!**

**Well, Claire it seems just appeared, then disappeared minutes later. **

**Because of a certain incident concerning the library, Les Miserables, and elbow grease (coughwhitereplicacough) I have been inspired!**

**Now, I don't own anything but Innokentiy Juliet Thomas, Clarissa Alison "Claire" Haruno, and yet another OC, Konstantin Tresnja "Constantine" Ivanovic.**

**Anyways, if I add some song lyrics there, I will certainly say who sang it and not claim it as my own.**

**Now, read.**

**

* * *

**Juliet felt eerily out of place.

Because she was in the arms of a boy she liked.

Otto Malpense.

No one even dared hug her.

Nevermind, she thought.

She tried to enjoy.

BAM!

A gunshot was heard not very far away.

Otto shielded her from the strange cloaked figure approaching her with a pistol in its hand.

Pointed at him.

"Otto, let me go."

"No. I won't."

"Please! I can take care of myself!"

"I DON"T WANT TO LOSE YOU!"

She stopped breathing for a moment.

She darted past Otto. She was an assassin. Her specialty was to kill and not be killed.

She was armed, mind you.

She unsheathed the two twin daggers she carried with her always.

She didn't feel ready.

At all.

This person was pointing a gun at her and she was carrying daggers? This would end very badly.

"Ah, Innokentiy. How nice to see you again," said the figure. The voice was somewhat familiar. It was thick with a Serbian accent.

The figure was pointing the pistol at her.

It pulled the trigger.

Otto stroked the girl's head. This girl was Innokentiy Juliet Thomas, also known as Juliet, J, and Kent. She was shot in the stomach, and the doctors at the sick bay knocked her out and put her on a morphine drip. They said she would be fine, nothing fatal, but she would not be able to attend class for a week. Her eyes were closed in slumber. The blond strands were spread all across the pillow. She was still in the same black dress she got shot in a few hours earlier. She looked so peaceful.

"Otto?"

It was Wing. Somebody better be dying.

"How is she?"

"She'll be fine. She's on a morphine drip for the pain, but nothing fatal."

"Oh. Raven found the person who shot her."

Raven?

"Really? Who?"

"They're bringing her in now."

All of a sudden, two guards were dragging a girl with brown hair by the arms. The girl looked up, settled her epic fail of a glare on Otto, and shrank back when Wing settled his death glare on her.

Nero walked in through the open door.

"Ah. Mr. Malpense. Good. I see, Mr. Fanchu, that you have already broken the news to Mr. Malpense here."

Nero looked upon Juliet's sleeping form and said mildly,

"Both of you seem to be wondering who did this to Miss Thomas. This," he lifted the girl's chin up, " Is Konstantin Tresnja Ivanovic. A Serbian student who shares Miss Thomas' line of villainy."

The girl had brown hair and black eyes. How odd. If Juliet's eyes were cold pools of silver that could spot a hummingbird from fifty miles away, the Serbian's were black holes, with no hope, no happiness, no anything.

"I prefer to be called Constantine."

The girl spoke.

That name rang a bell.

It was the name of the girl who asked Wing to the dance.

Which he said no to.

But other than that, there was something else....

Constantine Ivanovic was Juliet Thomas' old competition in the assassin world.

But Juliet said that they were friends now.

"I was actually aiming for the Japanese girl."

Then it hit him.

Claire Haruno.

He looked from Wing to Nero.

"Otto?"

She was awake.

SHE WAS AWAKE!

* * *

**Ooh. Finally. A REAL PLOT! **

**I quite like the whole enemy to friend thing happening between Constantine and Juliet. **

**But you never know what may happen.**

**I dunno why, but I have a thing for assassins and cold places. **

**R&R!  
**


	4. Euphoria

**The miraculous fourth chapter. XD **

**As usual, I own nothing. **

**But my OCs, Innokentiy Juliet Thomas, Clarissa Alison "Claire" Haruno, and dear Konstantin Tresnja "Constantine" Ivanovic. **

**Mark Walden owns the stuff I don't own. **

**P.S. I'm now currently reading the third book, and it's AWESOME! 8D**

**H.I.V.E. FOREVER.**

**

* * *

**

_The young girl walked slowly across the cold, wet, dark streets of downtown London. It was raining ridiculously hard. There was an open door. She ran in. There was a boy, about her age, sipping a cup of hot chocolate, almost dipping his white hair into the drink. _

_"Excuse me," said the girl. _

_The boy looked up. _

_"Yes?"_

_"I was hoping for a place to stay."_

__

Juliet opened her eyes. Her stomach felt weird. Her side ached. There was a girl at the foot of her bed. The dark eyes gave her away along with the Serbian accent.

Constantine . She was restrained and being taken away.

And there was a boy sitting on a chair beside her.

"Otto?"

"Thank goodness!" said Claire once she popped up on her right.

"If I'm not dead, I'm going to get a heart attack if you keep doing that. This is why I ask myself why I made friends with two ninjas," she replied.

"At least you aren't dead," said Wing once he appeared beside Claire.

"Both of you, seriously, stop doing that!"

Claire giggled.

"Is there some sort of inside joke I missed while I was knocked out?"

"Nah, it's just some joke," said Wing, nudging Claire.

"Ha ha. Now somebody explain to me what just happened."

"You got shot a few hours ago. Then the doctors put you on a morphine drip for the pain. And some of your ribs are broken, but those got mended a few hours ago," said Otto calmly.

He was in his H.I.V.E. uniform, and yet his hair still exhibited the traces of hair gel.

Right. The Valentines Day ball.

"Why'd they put me on morphine?"

"They said if they put you on something weaker you would still feel the pain."

"And the mended ribs? What did they do, magic?"

"No, just some really advanced technology."

"Oh."

She willed herself to sit up, which surprised her because she felt fine. She thought it would hurt.

She was sadly mistaken.

Wing guided Claire out of the sick bay.

"So..."

"So."

"You okay, Wing?"

"Yeah. "

"Okay."

"So did you enjoy?"

"What, Wing?"

"The ball."

"Yeah, except for the part when my best friend got shot."

"Ah."

They were now rounding the corridor to the dorms.

"So, uh, see you round?"

"See you round," said Wing with a wry smile.

They were in front of Wing's door.

Wing turned to put his hand to the scanner that acted as the doorknob, but he stopped and looked to his left.

Claire was a few doors down, doing the exact same thing; looking at Wing.

Wing started walking towards Claire, almost striding to get to her.

Claire almost fell to the floor.

Why was Wing so damn hot yet so damn effin' dangerous?

"Oh God," she whispered to herself.

Wing's strides got faster. Claire's breathing did too. Wing's long, black hair ruffled as he moved. Claire pulled a straight, almost emotionless expression. Wing's mouth curled into a sly (yet extremely tantalizing) grin. Claire's defiance did not get her anywhere. She was starting to blush greatly.

"Hello," said Wing once he reached her.

"Hi," she said in a small voice.

"Do you want to talk or something?"

"Yeah, I guess. We could talk."

"Okay."

He was coming closer and closer to her.

Wing smiled a crooked smile that made Claire half-faint.

Half.

Wing smoothed away a strand of jet-black hair from her face.

Her eyes were a mirror of no emotion.

But love.

Wing whispered one word.

"Breathe."

Wing Fanchu kissed Claire Haruno.

Mind you, not some quick peck on the pout.

Theirs was a long one.

His arms were settled around her waist. Hers were settled on his shoulders, slowly moving up to the soft, black ponytail, tousling it. His lips slowly parted hers.

Claire felt a sharp dart of euphoria.

Wing felt happy.

Unequivocally happy.

Not one moment did the pair regret.

It made it official.

It was no longer just Wing Fanchu and Claire Haruno anymore.

Now it was Wing Fanchu and Claire Haruno were together.

And to them, it meant a lot.

Now, the two ninjas stopped that induced euphoric moment.

They had to.

Somebody saw them.

Otto made his way up to the dorms, when he stopped dead in his tracks as he ascended the staircase.

Wing Fanchu.

Claire Haruno.

KISSING.

He stopped himself from dying of laughter, and from interrupting them.

Wing better brace himself from Otto, 'cause tomorrow, there will be teasing like there's no tomorrow.

And the fact that Otto hadn't kissed Juliet.

Yet.

The doctors already sent her back to her dorm, which she was in at the moments when Wing Fanchu wordlessly professed his love for Claire Haruno.

This was going to be a long night.

The next morning, which classes were canceled because they had the students clear their heads first, Otto, as usual, woke up earlier than Wing.

Good.

"Let the trauma begin," whispered Otto as he whispered in Wing's ear,

"I saw you with Claire."

Wing didn't stir. Otto pulled himself up, and went into the shower.

After a few minutes, Otto got out of the shower in his uniform to find Wing looking rather pleased with himself.

"So what are you doing now, Wing?"

"Ah, Otto, you wouldn't understand."

"And why not?"

"Because we are not in the same situation."

"And what is that?"

"Because I have someone and you don't."

Otto laughed. Wing chuckled, and showered.

"And who's the lucky girl who got you?"

"You know her," he shouted from the bathroom.

"Claire?"

Seconds later, in a vest and boxer shorts, came Wing.

"Yes."

Otto pretended to act surprised.

"Well, good choice then," he said, opening his Blackbox.

"Thank you, Otto, I appreciate that you think that I have good judgement," said Wing as he pulled on his H.I.V.E. uniform.

"Welcome," Otto replied, reading the only message for him on the screen.

_Hey Otto, meet me in the library. I need to show you something. And don't take Wing with you. Come totally alone. Love, J._

"Hey Wing, I'm just going to the library," said Otto, snapping the PDA shut.

"Should I come?"

"Nah. Claire's waiting for you."

"How did you-"

"Just go meet her."

"Right."

Wing's footsteps fading from earshot, Otto got up and went to the library.

He wondered quietly what was Juliet going to show him.

* * *

**Yes, there is some WingxClaire in this, purely because I created Claire for that specific reason. **

**And just wait for what happens in the library. **

**XD**

**XD**

**XD**

**XD  
**

**XD **

**:X**

**R & R please!  
**


	5. When You Play It Coy, It's Kinda Cute

**Ah yes. The fifth chapter. **

**Since I've finished Escape Velocity, I am now dying to read Dreadnought. **

**Since some random escapades in the story had happened concerning WingxClaire, you're probably wondering what in hell was Juliet going to show him. **

**Read to find out.**

**I own nothing, as usual, but my OCs, Innokentiy Juliet Thomas, Clarissa Alison "Claire" Haruno, and Konstantin Tresnja "Constantine" Ivanovic. **

**

* * *

**Otto walked slowly to the library.

He did not know what was so secret he couldn't bring Wing along.

He also wondered if she saw what he saw.

He got into the large library, going straight to the most quiet, secluded area of the library.

Upstairs, with the tall shelves and poor lighting, was the Shakespeare section.

He didn't know why H.I.V.E. technicians haven't fixed the lighting.

He guessed it was because there were too many nooks for light to fill if they fixed it.

He sat down on the floor in between two large bookshelves.

He absentmindedly checked out all the books around him.

He thought he was going mad.

All around him were hardbound versions of only one book.

_Romeo + Juliet_

He wondered why they had so many copies.

"Maybe people never stop borrowing it," he whispered to himself.

He took one copy out of its shelf and started reading.

30 seconds later, he finished.

He was getting bored.

He leaned against the shelf and closed his eyes. He felt sleepy.

"Boo."

"What the-" said Otto, eyes snapping open.

It was Juliet, holding a copy of the book he just read.

"Oh. It's you."

"Yeah, it's me, did you think I wouldn't come?"

"......"

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Now what was it you were going to show me?"

"Right. Come here."

She took him to an even darker space between shelves.

"I can't see much."

"I know Otto, that's the point."

"For what?"

"This place, as you can't see, is encased in one-way glass. The world can't see you, but you can see the world."

"How'd you get in if it's encased in glass?"

"There's a secret back door from the Shakespeare section."

"Where are we anyway?"

"We, Otto, are in the section that you're not supposed to be in."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. This, Otto, is where I secretly learned how to hack into the core of H.I.V.E."

"So?"

"You're not supposed to be here because they know I'm friends with you, and wit + moral blindness doesn't really work."

"What the hell did you just say?"

"In layman's terms; they don't think it's very safe for a genius without a conscience and going through puberty to run free knowing how to do anything and everything."

"Oh. Why are we here then?"

"Because I needed to do something without the world seeing."

"What?"

She wordlessly pulled up her left sleeve. There were some sort of scars that were in Russian. It was as if somebody cut the symbols into her skin for it to stay with her forever.

"What do those mean?"

"It means 'this little girl is a traitor to her people. This girl has no conscience. This girl can't learn how to love.'"

"Who did this?"

"My mother's associate in the Soviet union."

"Who?"

"Vasilije Ivanovic."

"He related to Constantine?"

"Constantine's father."

"So the reason why you don't like her is because of what her father did."

"No. She's the one who doesn't like me because she believes, like her father did, that assassins are traitors to the'ir respective countries."

"But isn't she one?"

"She only became one to hunt me down and kill me once and for all."

He lingered on the etching nearest to her wrist. It said she couldn't learn how to love. Otto could learn fast, so he read the etching on her arm.

"Why did he do it?"

"I didn't have the slightest idea. I just woke up with an etching on my arm. My mum said it was because she'd told him about my training."

He felt uncharacteristically brave.

"Is your mum still alive?"

"No. Neither is my dad. My mum killed herself and my dad did too. They never wanted to be seperated from each other," she said with no hint of emotion in her voice.

She pulled down her sleeve and looked at Otto with deep eyes. He cracked a crooked smile and nervously rubbed his nape.

"Do you like me?"

"As a friend?"

"No."

"As in like a boy would?"

"Yes."

"I-"

He couldn't take it anymore. They were coming closer and closer to each other. He didn't know what to say or do. His conscience said no, yet his mind said yes. He went with a the latter.

He snogged her.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Okay, no, there's more.

He pulled her close to him.

She toyed with his hair.

The world couldn't see what was happening.

It was to busy staring at some other pair.

---

Claire neatly pulled back her jet-black hair into a bun. She sat at her desk, doodling in her notebook. She stopped drawing and wrote:

_I, Clarissa Alison Haruno, also known as Claire, am in love. I am in love with a boy who loves me back. Wing Fanchu. _

She absentmindedly drew little hearts and stars around the sentence written in her curly script handwriting.

She sighed.

She could get used to the idea of having a boyfriend, but what she couldn't get used to was the fact that Wing and her would have some hot scene, then the next day, nothing.

Sigh.

---

Wing was in the shadows of Claire's room. He watched her tie her long tresses into a neat bun. He watched her doodle in a notebook. He read the statement in it. He smiled. He was getting tired of hiding.

It was time to reveal himself.

---

Claire felt someone's breath down her neck. She turned to look, but no one was there. She knew perfectly well that she was totally alone. Juliet was in the library, so it left her in the room alone.

Or at least she thought she was.

She stood up from the chair.

Whoever this was, she was going to get them.

Wing was right behind her, unseen.

He made one fatal mistake.

He exhaled.

Claire spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the ninja behind her.

Wing fell to the floor, exposed by his new girlfriend.

This was why Wing questioned himself why he asked a female ninja to be his.

"Wing! Oh, I'm really sorry. I thought there was someone else in the room," she apologized, pulling Wing up to his feet.

"It's alright. And nice roundhouse."

"Thanks. So what are you doing sneaking around?"

"Oh nothing, just wanted to pay you a visit."

"Oh. Why can't you ever learn how to knock?"

"Ah, I would, but that would give no suspense," said Wing, giving Claire a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Suspense might just be your middle name, Wing," she replied, ruffling Wing's ponytail.

"Maybe yes, maybe no."

Claire blushed. She liked it, no, loved it when Wing played games. She also liked it when he smiled that wry, crooked, yet completely attractive smile of his. And most of all, she liked it when Wing held her close to him, making her feel safe and completely secure.

"So do you want to go down and get something?"

"Yeah, sure," she replied with a smile.

He held out his hand for her and led her down. The heating system wasn't working, and some wind was coming in from Russia and Siberia. Wing let her go down first, and nipped to the quartermaster.

"Identification please," said H.I.V.'s synthesized voice.

"Wing Fanchu."

"Access granted. Welcome Wing."

The doors slid open to find the familiar blue wire-framed face of H.I.V..

"How may I be of assistance, Mr. Fanchu?"

"I've already told you. I need a jacket," said Wing calmly.

"Affirmative."

From one white pedestal a black jacket ascended. It had the H.I.V.E. logo on it. It was fit for Wing and only Wing. He zipped up the jacket.

But it wasn't what he was going to do with the new jacket.

"May I be of further assistance, Mr. Fanchu?"

"No, thank you, H.I.V., that is all," said Wing as he got out of the quartermaster.

He rushed downstairs to find Claire in the dining hall sipping a cup of tea.

"Hi," he said as he sat opposite her.

"Hello," she said softly.

He could see that she was shivering.

Good.

"You okay?"

"I'm really cold."

"Shall we go up to the accommodation block?"

"Sure."

Wing and Claire ran up.

"Wing! Stop running so fast! Can't you feel the cold?"

"I'm wearing a jacket, love, I can't."

She smirked and ran beside him.

They stopped in front of Claire's door, just like the time they kissed for the first time.

Claire breathed deeply, as if the previous breaths were insufficient. She could see her breath as she exhaled.

She took off her gloves and laughed.

"Why?" asked Wing.

She showed him her nails, which were blue from the cold.

He laughed, then unzipped his jacket and put it around Claire's shoulders.

"Better?"

"Yes. Thanks."

She then leaned on Wing's shoulder.

Wing looked into Claire's azure blue eyes and smiled his crooked smile.

They were okay.

They were in love.

_And you play it coy, but it's kinda cute.  
Ah, when you smile at me you know exactly what you do.  
Baby don't pretend, that you don't know it's true.  
Cause you can see it when I look at you._

* * *

**That song at the end was Everything by Michael Buble **

**I don't own that either. **

**:X**

**XD**

**XD**

**:X**

**R & R please!  
**


	6. Barely An Angel

**Chapter six! **

**As you may have probably noticed, I have been ignoring my Harry Potter fanfic. **

**I'm too absorbed in H.I.V.E. to write about anything else. **

**So…Yeah. **

**And I still don't own anything but Juliet Thomas, Claire Haruno, and Constantine Ivanovic. **

**The last one doesn't appear in this chapter, btw. **

**Mark Walden owns that stuff I don't own.**

**

* * *

**Juliet leaned back comfortably in her chair.

She smiled.

Why wouldn't she?

She was in love.

With someone who loved her back.

Otto Malpense.

She always thought she was dreaming when she thought of Otto in the library the other day.

And it was strange for her to believe that she was the next James Bond's who-

I mean, girlfriend.

She was extremely happy about that.

But she wondered if everybody knew about her and him.

Maybe.

She twirled a lock of platinum blond hair.

She was getting bored.

---

Claire put the dulled blade's edge to the blade sharpener.

She liked being in control of the blades she wielded.

Wing sat on her bed, leafing through a manga.

They had been scheduled to go and train.

But she suggested that they do something else instead.

She finished refining the blade.

At last.

They were going to watch some crappy movie.

It was some movie about H.I.V.E. being the root for good criminals, and some malnourished actress was again to play the supposed heroine.

It was about the heroine falling in love with the criminal, who also turned out to be a vampire.

Tch.

Neither of them believed in vampires.

They had tried watching a movie called _Twilight_, which was care of Otto and Juliet's careful hacking of a computer network mainframe.

Wing was not one of those boys who found a fictional character undermining.

And Claire was not one of those girls who fell in love with a fictional vampire.

She was already in love with her own Romeo.

And personally, Wing didn't find anyone who called himself a vampire very honorable.

They'd be dead when Wing got his hands on them.

Claire put down the blade.

"Out."

"Right," Wing replied, stepping out.

Seconds later...

Wing was called in by Claire.

"So, how do I look?"

Wing did not say anything. She was wearing some black sneakers, and she'd rolled up her sleeves and taken off her gloves, plus the fact she had a black belt around her waist.

"_Utsukushii_. (1)"

"Ha. _Kashikoi_. (2)"

Wing laughed.

She laughed along with him.

They stopped laughing, and got to watching the movie.

Good thing they were paying attention to something else, since something was going on somewhere else.

---

"_Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, but be sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet._"

"I'm right here, Juliet," said Otto impatiently.

"I wasn't calling you. I was reading aloud."

"Great."

They were in Otto's room, faced with complicated formulas for both physics and chemistry, deep sonnets, and amongst it all, Shakespeare.

How Otto hated it when he heard songs that had puns or namesakes with them.

Why did her parents name her that again?

Oh yeah, because her mother gave her a boy's name, so her dad had to balance it out.

Right.

"Otto? Are you interfacing with a computer again?"

"No. Why would you think that?"

"You're zoning out. Look what you did with the formula."

He looked down at the notebook he was writing on.

"But there's nothing wrong with it!"

"Hell yeah, there is. You made it 'time multiplied by displacement over time' and that's the easy one."

He looked at it again.

She was right.

He crossed it out and wrote the correct formula.

"Aren't you just the guardian angel," said Otto, giving her a nudge.

"I'm barely an angel."

* * *

**(1) Means beautiful in Japanese.**

**(2) Means clever in Japanese. **

**Okay, even I have to admit, that formula should have been harder, but I couldn't think of anything hard that would make any sense.**

**And Aleila26, you should know the correct formula. We studied this!**

**And those lines from Shakespeare? **

**Partly from memory and partly from the internet. **

**And I'm begging mercy for all the Twilight lovers out there, I just don't like it. **

**It's my personal opinion. **

**Anyways, this is called Daggers And Cliffhangers, so that up there is a cliffhanger. **

**I think. **

**I dunno. **

**But I do know one thing; that cliffhanger was a product of cranberry juice.**

**I dunno how I got inspired by that. **

**It kinda tasted like red wine.**

**:**

**-)  
**

**R & R please!  
**


	7. Check Yes, Juliet

**Seventh chapter.**

**Bound to be lucky.**

**Behold, Otto and Juliet, having a fight!**

**Great. **

**I own nothing but Juliet, Claire, and Constantine.**

**Btw, seven is my lucky number, so I made it nice. **

**

* * *

**"I'm going back to my room."

"Okay."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Juliet walked to her room.

Once she was safely out of earshot and in her room, she squealed with glee.

"You okay?"

She turned around. It was Claire, undoing her ponytail and re-tying it.

"Yeah," she replied with as much calm as she could muster. Once the smile was off her face, she looked at Claire again.

"You should really show your emotions more often, Kent."

"Why is that?"

"Reminds me that you're still human."

* * *

Otto woke in an abnormally bad mood. Maybe it was because he was staring at his notebook for the last few minutes after Juliet left.

He washed his face and looked into the mirror. He was pale, as usual, his snow-white hair was wet at the temples, and his eyes were blue and bloodshot.

Nothing new there.

He stepped out of the bathroom, careful not to wake Wing.

Well, nothing would wake Wing.

He was sleeping soundly.

Otto went to the library.

He needed some alone time to clear his head.

* * *

Juliet brushed her platinum blond hair. She hated having light hair.

It was making staring at her and Otto in bright light painful.

She let her elbow length hair fall down her back.

She stared at herself in the mirror. Her grey eyes were cold, as always. She'd been too busy staring at Otto to look in a mirror.

She had to admit, she didn't look bad.

It was about two hours before class.

She needed her friend.

* * *

Claire woke up to the sound of Wing's voice. Thanks to her Blackbox, she knew it was an hour before class.

"Hey," she said absentmindedly.

"Hey," he said back in his measured voice.

She smoothed down her hair.

"Why are you here this early?" she asked, pulling on her uniform in the bathroom.

As with any girl, she didn't like changing in front of a boy.

What girl would?

That would be some sort of advance.

"I dunno. I told myself I'd do the first thing that popped into my head this morning. I felt like visiting you."

On a professional level, Wing would be enemy number one. But on a personal level, she quite liked the sound of Wing's measured voice, his black hair, his mysterious persona.

But who wouldn't?

The best thing about this was the fact that Wing was with Claire.

She got out of the bathroom, fully dressed, long black hair flowing down her back.

She took a black elastic from her dresser and pulled her hair back into the high ponytail like she did everyday.

She then took a look at Wing, who was emotionless.

"Sword-clashing at the training grounds?" he asked, edging towards her swords.

"Sure."

But someone, or rather, some people were already there.

* * *

"Otto! Why so weak? Is the wittle baby scared to be beaten by a girl?"

"Ha. Funny, but not funny enough."

Otto and Juliet were clashing swords at the training grounds. Otto struck with great skill, calculating every move in his head before applying his skill to the fight. Juliet, on the other hand, was applying every move she knew from her infiltration, counterintelligence, and combat training. She wasn't even breaking a sweat. Neither was Otto. Essentially, she had been trained since birth. And she seemed to know what was going on in Otto's supercomputer head, blocking every carefully strategized blow. Otto wondered if the Soviet union taught ESP or mind-reading to their pupils. But Otto knew that there were only two Soviet pupils that were taught such great skills: Raven and Juliet.

After about half an hour of sparring, they heard a voice calling out in the distance.

"Otto! Juliet! Come here! It's been half an hour! Let us play!"

They put the blades down, looking for the person who was spoiling their fun.

It was Claire, accompanied by the ever quiet Wing.

"Fine," Juliet grumbled, packing up her swords.

They put their things back in their rooms, and grabbed their books for Villainy Studies.

"What d'you think we'll be discussing today?" asked Juliet, switching her textbook from the left arm to the right, on the way to class.

"Dunno," he replied calmly, leafing through his book.

They arrived a good ten minutes early, thanks to their slow walking.

They found good seats, behind Shelby and Laura, and in front of Wing and Claire.

Nero appeared out of almost nowhere, maybe because nobody was paying attention to him open the door.

"Give me the name for a person who kills without a conscience for their own gain and is expertly trained in the art of war," Nero said quickly, strolling around the room.

"Yes, Ms. Brand?"

"An assassin, sir."

"Correct," and Nero's gaze flitted from Laura to Juliet.

Juliet squirmed in her seat. Otto knew what she meant. It was as if Nero was labeling her a homicidal no-conscience expert in death.

"Now, give me an example of an assassin. A name please."

Someone must've raised their hand, since Nero's eyes lifted from Juliet to somwhere in the back.

"Yes, Mr. Darkdoom?"

Darkdoom?

"It's just a guess sir."

"Go on."

"Juliet Thomas, sir."

"Yes. You may take your seat."

Juliet started to flip through her book. She was getting uncomfortable.

"Now, you may by now know of Ms. Thomas profession. And I tell you this now: an assassin is in no way any more dishonorable than any other line of villainy. The special thing about assassins are the fact that they put their emotions behind them, and they purposely control their feelings, to focus on the one eternal goal: to get the kill."

Nero stood in front of Juliet's desk. Otto could see where this was going. Nero was going to use her as a living, breathing proof of expert villainy. Juliet's already pale complexion grew even paler. She didn't even look like she was breathing.

"Please stand up, Ms. Thomas."

She stood up slowly.

"Now lift up your left sleeve."

She nervously pulled it up. Other people gasped and gaped at her scars, while others stood up to get a better view of them.

"What does this say, Ms. Thomas?"

"'This girl is a traitor to her people. This girl doesn't have a conscience. This girl can't learn how to love.'"

"Thank you, Ms. Thomas, please take your seat."

For an hour, Nero went on length about how being an assassin wasn't dishonorable, and that not all assassins are as good and as deadly as a select few.

And Juliet was part of that select few.

* * *

"You okay?" asked Otto at lunch.

"Yeah," she replied for the umpteenth time. Everyone was asking her how she was doing.

She swallowed the Onion soup which she was eating. It made her feel like she was when she was little, when her mother's friend, Akilina, would cook her some Onion soup when she said that her mama and papa weren't home when actually they were dead. Akilina died too, eventually. She died the day when Juliet had "graduated" from her assassin training. She was only ten when the closest thing she had to a mother died. But for some reason, maybe because of her training, she didn't cry. Perhaps it was because in the academy, a habit was instilled in her heart and mind that she had a high tolerance for death.

"Uh, Juliet, I'm really sorry that I outed you," said Nigel again. He'd been apologizing since after class.

"It's alright, Nigel, I can't deny who I really am, anyway. Besides, I wasn't hiding."

Nigel nodded.

"You sure you're okay?" asked Claire's voice, making Juliet jump.

"Ah, yeah," she replied, rubbing her nape.

"Good," said a measured voice beside her. It was Wing, making her jump for the second time.

She heaved a great sigh and drank the tea in front of her.

"I'm going to the library," she said finally after the last spoonful of soup.

"I'll come with you," said Otto.

Juliet nodded. She needed a friend.

And nothing against Claire, she really didn't need someone to laugh with right now.

For the first time in her life, Innokentiy Juliet Thomas needed to cry.

* * *

"So what you're saying is that your parents died and your guardian did too but you didn't cry?"

"Yes," replied Juliet, tears about to bloom in her eyes.

"Oh," Otto replied, not knowing what to say next.

He stayed quiet for a while, watching silent tears roll down her cheeks. He didn't touch her, seeing as she'd cry even harder.

Some song was playing through the PA system.

_"Do you hear the people sing? Singing the song of angry men? Who will not be slaves again! When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums, there is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"_

He was not used to seeing her sad. He'd never seen her cry. He doubted she'd ever cried before this.

Without warning, he put his hand gently on her shoulder.

She did not do anything but cry for a few more seconds.

Then she looked at Otto, eyes brimming with tears, looking up at him as if she was seeing an apparition.

She smiled weakly and punched his shoulder.

Wiping tears from her face with her sleeve, she said in a croaky voice,

"Just because I'm crying doesn't mean I can't kill you."

"I know," he smiled.

"I'm not weak."

"I know you aren't."

* * *

The next day, Juliet was happier, and Otto was happy about that.

"So have you actually read Les Mis?"

"Yeah, I have, Claire," replied Juliet impatiently.

"So is it good?"

"Uh-huh."

Wing was holding Claire by the waist, oblivious to the stares he was attracting in the dining hall.

Otto laughed at Claire and Wing bickering. They were funny.

Otto held Juliet by the forearm, dragging her down to sit.

"Hey, there's a form for all of us," said Claire.

"What form?"

"It's asking, 'Are you currently in a relationship?'"

"Huh?"

"Check yes, Juliet,"said Otto impatiently.

_check yes Juliet, I'll be waiting, wishing, wanting, yours for the taking, just sneak out, and don't tell a soul goodbye  
check yes Juliet, here's the countdown, 3...2...1... now fall in my arms now, they can change the locks don't let them change your mind_

* * *

**That song at the end was "Check Yes Juliet" By We The Kings.**

**Also not mine. **

**The Les Mis stuff?**

**Internet and memory.**

**You know the drill. **

**R & R please.  
**


	8. Never To Part

**Okay, I admit it, that seventh chapter wasn't so good. **

**I'll make up for it, I promise. **

**I own nothing but Juliet, Claire, and Constantine. **

**Please support H.I.V.E.**

**It should be supported. **

**

* * *

**

"Those are some really weird forms," said Claire, playing with the leftover wasabi paste on her plate with her chopsticks.

"Yeah, they are," replied Wing, taking the cup in front of him.

"Turns out they were fakes. Designed by some hack and printed out through the mainframe," said Otto, turning towards Laura.

"Well, as long as nobody's dying, we're all okay here," said Juliet, finishing the argument.

"We do have to get to class. Tactical Education," said Shelby, dropping the piece of toast on her plate.

Laura grumbled. She wasn't a fan of Tactical Ed.

"Well, look on the bright side, Laura, it's either you've got brains or brawn, and at least you got the first one," said Shelby, making an attempt to be sympathetic.

"I don't even know why I'm listening to you."

* * *

"Maggots!"

The sound of Colonel Francisco bellowing made Constantine jump.

She turned to look at the new populars here, the new six people who were a cut above the rest.

Which were Otto, Wing, Shelby, Laura, Claire, and Juliet.

Juliet was talking animatedly to Otto, and if the rumors were true, her new boyf. Wing, meanwhile, was having a chat with Claire, that Japanese chick who almost got shot by her.

Almost.

She'd hit Juliet instead. She was surprised that she was able to go back to class that week anyway.

She was losing her touch.

Sadly.

* * *

"Now all of you no-good Alphas think you're too good to take a beating, so you send henchmen to get beaten for you. NOW I DON'T TOLERATE THAT! All of you today will be taking a beating. SO ALL OF YOU GRAB A SWORD AND SEPARATE INTO TWO GROUPS ON EITHER SOUND OF THE ROOM! Clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir."

Otto grabbed a blade from the rack. He hoped that he would not be against Wing, Claire, or Juliet.

He had a feeling he would lose.

He stood behind Juliet and in front of Wing.

Juliet was carrying her own swords, which were made of the same deadly black metal and energy fields Pike had used for Raven's katanas of death.

"NEXT!"

Before he knew it, he was right at the sidelines. He saw Juliet, swords aloft, circling the field, glaring at her enemy.

Constantine Ivanovic.

---

"You can't take me, Juliet, I'm a hell of a lot better than you. So I'm giving you a handful of friendly advice: Back out now while you still can."

"Really? Well, I never quit. And I never considered you using the word friendly in proper terms."

"Well that's just too bad," said Constantine, facing the blade to Juliet.

"Bring it on, bitch," replied Juliet, voice dripping with venom.

A sword clanged as Juliet advanced on her opponent. The blade wielded by the Serbian was cut cleanly in half, and Juliet's blade was pointed straight at Constantine's face.

"Please! Stop!" pleaded Constantine, quickly dropping her I-am-your-worst-nightmare face.

Francisco's face broke into a grim smile. He liked this student. Vicious little thing. Emotionless. Perfectly deadly.

Otto stared at Constantine's face. It was afraid. He wanted to tell Juliet to stop, but he just couldn't.

Juliet lowered her blade, and fell to the floor.

* * *

Otto was carrying Juliet's unconscious form to her room. Francisco told him to let her wake up then bring her to the sick bay.

He put her hand to the scanner and the door opened for him. He carefully passed her through the doorway. He put her down on her bed.

She was breathing.

Her eyes were closed.

He wondered what was wrong with her. She seemed at peace yet fighting someone in her sleep.

Minus the actual fighting part.

She wasn't punching the air, her eyes were flickering.

She slowly opened her eyes and punched Otto in the stomach.

"Hey," he said, rubbing the spot of the impact.

"Hey. Let me go to class."

"Sure."

They walked to the Stealth And Evasion classroom.

Ms. Leon was sitting on a velvet cushion when they walked in.

"Students, please find a partner."

Otto turned to ask Wing, but he was already partnered with Claire.

"_These two never do want to be separated from each other_," thought Otto to himself.

He then turned to ask Laura, but she too was partnered with someone else, who was Shelby.

He then asked Juliet, hoping she wasn't partnered up.

She wasn't.

"Now please go to that area of the room," came Ms. Leon's synthesized voice, and the cat pointed its paw to the other end of the room.

Otto wondered what they were going to do.

* * *

**Ha. A cliffhanger.**

**Please rate & review.**


	9. Departure

**The ninth chapter. **

**Mary Sue. **

**I'm trying to polish off some of that Sue-ness, so I came up with this. **

**Have mercy. **

**I do not own anything but my OCs. **

**Please give some suggestions for the removal of Sue-ness. If you find anything worth mentioning that contains Sue, please don't hesitate to tell me in a PM or review. **

**Thanks.**

**

* * *

**"So you're not Japanese?"

"Half and half."

"Half of what?"

"I'm half American."

"Oh."

Wing had noticed lately that Claire was talkative. More than usual.

She lied.

Okay, she didn't tell him.

He didn't know what to think. He felt bad inside, that he didn't ask her in the first place and just assumed she was purely Japanese. He also felt he didn't trust her so much anymore.

They were in one corner in Ms. Leon's classroom, and the others were somewhere in the cloud of students.

What they didn't know was that some other secrets were being revealed.

* * *

"Do you get this at all?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Well Juliet, it's pretty easy."

"Oh?"

Then Otto came to explaining their homework.

"Oh."

He'd always had a sense for knowing if someone was lying, but he felt she was hiding something, yet she wasn't giving the full details.

"Hey Otto?"

"Yeah?"

"You had a name, right? When you were growing up?"

"Yeah."

"Well, uh, my name's not really Juliet."

"What is it then?"

"When my mum's friend, Akilina, took care of me, she didn't know that my name was actually just Innokentiy Prokofiev-Thomas. She added the Juliet because Innokentiy is a boy's name. On my birth certificate, it says that it's just Innokentiy. But on HIVE records, my name is Innokentiy Juliet. "

"Anything else?"

"I cried before. I was just trained not to."

"When you made your first kill, did you cry?"

"Yes."

Otto wasn't so shocked about the whole name thing and the first kill thing. Maybe she did have a conscience.

Maybe.

Well, she did, but she didn't pay attention to it.

"So what do I call you?"

"Just use Kent. That's my real name."

"Right."

"Students, please take one blindfold from the table over there," said Ms. Leon, staring at the group of students.

Juliet (Or Kent, as we must now call her) took one blindfold and walked back to Otto.

"So when do you plan to tell the others?" Otto asked.

"Today. After class."

"Good luck."

"Now please decide who gets to wear the blindfold," came Ms. Leon again, hopping off her seat and unto a student's desk.

Kent wore the blindfold.

"All those wearing blindfolds are to let their partner find them in that labyrinthe-," Ms. Leon looked at the large monitor above the teacher's desk, which was displaying a maze made of steel.

"And the challenge for those who aren't wearing the blindfold is to find your partner and taking her or him out of the maze without her or him knowing you are there. Using stealth. And the edge of the people wearing the blindfold is that if they don't believe that you are the partner, they are permitted to decline you taking them. You are not allowed to talk to your partner. And your partner must know who you are without you talking to them."

Otto did not say anything.

He was busy thinking.

* * *

After class, everyone had gone back to the accommodation block.

Kent rushed to her room.

She'd noticed that Claire and Wing were ignoring each other.

She wondered why.

She opened the door to find Claire already there.

"Are you hiding something from me, Claire?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know, about you?"

"That's not your business." Her voice was shaky.

"You lied, didn't you?"

"I don't under-"

"You lied that you were a ninja to make it seem that you were better than the rest of us, didn't you?"

"Now wait just a God damn second."

"You lied. You lied to me, to Otto, to Shelby, to Laura, and...To Wing."

"You-"

"You lied to make yourself seem superior to all of us."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"WHAT DON'T I UNDERSTAND, CLAIRE?! YOU LIED TO ALL OF US! YOU LIED TO YOUR BEST FRIENDS!"

"I LIED BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT ME! I LIED, OKAY?! I'M HALF AMERICAN! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING BESIDES FENCING! I'M NOTHING BUT A BIG FAT LIAR! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, JULIET?! ARE YOU HAPPY THAT I SHATTERED MY FALSE REPUTATION THAT I TRIED SO HARD TO KEEP UP?! ARE YOU HAPPY?!"

"My name is Innokentiy," said Kent in a hollow voice.

"SO YOU'VE BEEN LYING AS WELL?! WHY MUST YOU PERSECUTE ME WHILE I STAND HERE SHOUTING MY HEAD OFF AND YOU TELL ME JULIET ISN'T EVEN YOUR REAL NAME?! BULLSHIT!"

"I didn't choose to lie. It says such in my records. If I don't follow them, I'm out of here," said Kent coldly.

"SO THAT WAS YOUR PLAN?! BEFRIEND ME, FIND OUT MY SECRETS THEN CRUSH ME LIKE A BUG?! I HATE YOU! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE AT THIS GOD DAMNED SCHOOL ANYMORE! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO BE-"

"BE WHAT, CLAIRE?! BE WHAT?!"

"I DON'T EVEN WANT YOU TO BE MY FRIEND ANYMORE!"

"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT AND DON'T WANT TO DO!"

"FINE! SO IT SHALL BE! FIND A NEW BESTFRIEND, INNOKENTIY PROKOFIEV - THOMAS, CAUSE I'M NOT HER ANYMORE!"

"FUCK OFF!"

Kent turned her back against her ex-bestfriend, then turned back to face her.

"By the way, you won't be seeing me around her for a while, I'll be in Russia."

Then she left and knocked on Otto's door thrice.

He opened the door.

"I'll be in Russia for a week."

"Oh."

"And I want to take a break from dating for a while."

"What?"

"You can still talk with me like before, it's just that we won't go out."

"Oh. For how long?"

"From when I'm back here from Russia until God knows when."

"Forever?"

"No, not forever."

"Oh. When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow night. And I might bring either Shelby or Laura."

"Oh. Tell me tomorrow who you're bringing with you."

" Yeah, I will. Try not to blow up the school while I'm gone, Guinness."

"I'll make it a point to blow it up, Grey eyes."

He closed the door.

She went back to her room, where she started packing her stuff for the trip. She packed all her winter clothes, in general, seeing as it was the middle of winter in Russia.

She looked at Claire, who was standing over her homework.

"You gonna miss me, beeyotch?"

"Oh yeah, I'll really miss that piece of Russian crap in the other bed." She scoffed. She was sarcastic. And obnoxious. And bitchy.

She shrugged and changed into her night clothes and dozed off.

She needed the rest.

After all, tomorrow, she'd really be back home.

* * *

**Okay, that whole secret thing was to de-Suify Claire and Kent. **

**I need to de-Suify them...**

**Ideas please! **

**Special thanks to Phoenix, a person in the official HIVE forum and a great writer, who suggested Claire's bitchy, obnoxious, humane qualities lately.**

**Also special thanks to Aleila26, for Claire would not be Claire if Aleila wasn't there.  
**

**Insult me if it will help, and don't say a word if it won't.**

**Rate and Review, I'm begging!**


	10. Arrival

**The tenth chapter. **

**Okay, just to clarify, Wing is upset that Claire lied to him, not because of her nationality. **

**I left you hanging there when Kent fell asleep. **

**I own nothing but Kent, Claire, and Constantine. **

**The latter appears in this chapter. **

**Mark Walden owns the stuff I don't own. **

**

* * *

**"I'm taking Shelby with me."

"YES! I love you, Kent, I LOVE YOU!"

"Uh-huh. We leave tonight."

"Right. Could you help me pack? I've only been there once, and not for a very long time."

"You mean when you stole Tsarina Alexandra's tiara."

"How'd you know?"

"Wild guess."

Shelby laughed. It was true; she had stolen Tsarina Alexandra's tiara, going through the vents and leaving her customary note.

Otto chuckled. He thought that she was taking Claire with her, but then when he saw that they didn't acknowledge each others presence in class, he pushed that assumption away.

Wing was slum and silent.

"Hey Wing, are you okay?" asked Kent.

"Yes. I am fine."

Otto took a look at his friend. He knew from what Wing told him that Claire had lied to him and that it was dishonorable on her part considering he trusted her very much.

The greater question on his mind was: Did Wing really trust Claire?

* * *

"Ohmigod! Are you kidding me?"

"No, I am not kidding you."

Shelby was holding up one of Kent's thick winter coats, which was fatigue green and lined with fleece. They were in Kent's room, figuring out what type of coat should be made for Shelby. This was during lunch.

"This is thick as hell! And you're telling me this won't keep me warm?"

"It depends on what you wear underneath."

"Reminds me, what do you wear underneath this thing?"

"A long sleeve top under a sweater and some thick pants along with some boots for your feet."

"And why do I need to wear the boots?"

"Winter means snow. And snow means ice. And ice is frozen water."

"Oh. So you mean I have to wear the boots so I won't slip or whatever?"

"Exactly. And your feet could get cold. Literally."

Shelby chuckled.

"I realize why I didn't stay so long."

"You'll get used to it."

"I don't think I ever will."

Now Kent chuckled.

"You do know we still have class, right?"

"Stealth and Evasion. My favorite."

Kent smiled wryly.

* * *

"Ready?" asked Otto to Shelby and Kent.

"As always," Shelby replied.

They were about to board the Shroud, when they realized that they didn't have a guard.

"Oh, right, Nero told me to tell you that your guard and or chaperon will meet you in Russia," Otto said dryly.

"Right," said Shelby.

"And that your blades are upgraded. No more faults," said Otto, looking at Kent, "Bye." He gave them a fleeting hug.

"Goodbye," said Wing, giving them a spine crushing goodbye hug.

Kent regained her composure from Wing's goodbye hug. She said ouch in her head.

"Hey you two," said Laura, "don't come back empty handed, okay? I want the full coverage from when you board the Shroud till you get on it to come back, okay?"

She opened her arms out to them and gave them a squeeze. The thing Kent hated about departures was the hugging. She hated the hugging.

"You ready?" asked Kent to break the whole mushy moment.

"When have I ever been not ready?" Shelby replied smartly.

Shelby got into the the Shroud first, leaving Kent to have one look at the place. Her gaze settled upon Otto. He tilted his head to the side, as if to say that she had to go. She nodded and stepped in.

* * *

"So I'm guessing it's really cold there."

"Yup," replied Kent, absentmindedly messing with her Blackbox and tapping it with the stylus a few times.

"As in when we get off the plane it's cold?"

"Pretty much."

She snapped the PDA shut.

"We're almost there," said Kent.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Get your hat on. That coat can't reach up to your head, you know," said Kent, putting on her own hat and gloves.

"Excuse me, Ms. Thomas?" asked the pilot.

"Yes?"

"We've landed."

The ramp went down for the pair and as Kent made her way down, she was greeted by Moscow's bitter cold. She pulled the collar of her coat up. She got cold.

"Damn it's cold here," said Shelby after Kent.

"I told you, didn't I?"

"Excuse me, Ms. Thomas? Your guardian is here."

Kent looked at the end of the ramp and saw a figure in a cloak and a hat. Naturally.

She ran down, eager to see this guardian.

"Innokentiy?"

Kent looked up at the woman. She had startling blue eyes, the same her father had.

"My name's Atarah Thomas, your father's twin sister."

That explained much. Atarah had some of the sharp features her father Stephen had. Such as the blue eyes and defined nose. But the only thing father said about Atarah was that they weren't on the best of terms.

"I thought I didn't have any living relatives," said Kent as Atarah guided them to the car that was going to bring them to the safehouse.

"Well, your father, once he had died, had stated in his will that I won't get to lay one finger on your head. He didn't want me near his only child. And because he feared that I would squander the money he left to you," replied Atarah, who was sitting opposite Shelby and Kent.

"Why would you do that?"

"I am a gambler. My deeds are far less evil than of your father's. Say if he was going to forward with an uprising, I'd be somewhere else stealing a loaf of bread from a bakery just to stay alive. I gambled away my share of the money your grandfather earned from working closely with the USSR weapons department."

Kent fell silent.

"Ms. Thomas?" Shelby asked.

"Please, call me Atarah."

"Okay, Atarah? Where is this safehouse?"

"We're here."

Atarah opened the door for them. Kent stepped out first, trying to figure out if this Atarah was legit and not some GLOVE snow descended from the heavens as she walked.

She walked towards the polished steel doors. She put one gloved hand to the steel. Kent looked at Atarah, who walked to the door. Snow continued to fall.

"Welcome," she said, putting her own gloved hand to a select area on the door. They slid open.

There was a grand staircase, a dining room to the left, and a sitting room to the right. Kent looked down at the floor, like she always did when she entered unfamiliar territory. The floors were made of marble.

"The rooms are upstairs, there are only two left, and there's an adjoining door, since they're beside each other. There are windows, just that they're made of one way Plexiglas. There's a fireplace in the sitting room and the dining room, dinner is served at 6 o' clock sharp, breakfast at 7, and lunch at noon. I am to be with you wherever you go, from the Thomas mausoleum to the streets of Moscow. I will be there to protect both of you if anything untoward happens. Clear?" said Atarah in a business like tone.

"Where's our luggage?" asked Shelby.

"Upstairs. And one more thing: I'm ALWAYS watching. So don't try anything funny," Atarah replied.

Shelby and Kent nodded and made their way up the stairs. Kent found her room, which was exactly beside Shelby's, just like the woman had said. There was one long window that went from the ceiling to the floor. Outside, little kids in fur-lined coats were playing in the snow, oblivious to the fact that it was -68 degrees where they were playing. A snowflake stuck itself on her window. She swallowed hard. She realized who the snowflake reminded her of.

"Otto," she whispered to herself.

"Hey! Haven't you unpacked?" asked Shelby, making her jump.

"How did you get in?" she asked, unzipping her suitcase and throwing out some hats and sweaters on the bed.

"Hello? Didn't you hear what Atarah said? There's an adjoining door," said Shelby, sitting herself on a nearby chaise.

"Right," she replied, folding up a wrinkly sweater from her trousseau.

"So when are you visiting the grave?"

"Tomorrow. I'm a bit tired."

"Okay. See you at breakfast then." Then Shelby opened the adjoining door and disappeared from view.

"Yeah," Kent replied. That was the only reply she could muster that didn't sound riddled with emotion. A beep came from her Blackbox.

_Hey, where are you now? Are you in Russia? Where in Russia? Full report please! Oh yeah, Claire isn't really a ninja. She lied to us all. Love, Laura. _

She stared at the screen for a moment. She hit reply and began to type.

_We're in Russia. Moscow, to be exact. I know Claire isn't a ninja. She spilled the beans yesterday before I told you guys I was leaving. So how are you guys over there? I dunno what time it is there, but here it's about four in the morning. _

She hit send and closed the Blackbox. She put it down and laid out her outfit for tomorrow's visit. A cloak, a hat, a pair of boots, over the standard winter apparel.

She changed into her nightclothes and crashed on the unfamiliar new bed.

It was overly cushy. The pillow was too soft. She closed her eyes and thought of all the things that made her happy. Snow. Physics. Dark chocolate. The smell of espresso in the morning. Paper. Pens. Morning dew. Shakespeare. Poetry. Then a pale face with blue eyes and white hair permeated her daydream. Her eyes snapped open. She had to stop this madness. She had to stop thinking about the boy she loved. She needed to find had push her feelings to the side again. She thought of reasons why she needed to divert her attention. First she was an assassin. Second was she was miles away from him.

Third was the fact that she was visiting her parents.

Tomorrow.

* * *

**Okay, the stuff that made Kent happy are some pretty shallow stuff. **

**I admit that. **

**Rate and Review please!  
**


	11. Closets

**The somethingeth chapter because I can't remember when I last updated. **

**So here's what I remember: Kent went back to Russia and she took Shelby with her, Wing's angry with Claire because she lied to him, Laura's been talking with Kent even they're miles away, and Otto....Otto's in Kent's thoughts.  
**

**I own nothing but Kent, Claire, and Constantine.**

**Read on. **

**

* * *

**

_Snow fell thickly on the sidewalk. The little girl advanced on the occasion. She jumped into the snow. She made snow angels. She unsheathed herself from the hat her mother wanted her to put on. Her platinum blond hair shined even in the dim sunlight of winters in Dickson, Eastern Russia. The little girl blissfully lied down on the snow bed with her hat in her tiny hand. _

_"Inno, dear! Why did you take off your hat? It's very cold, dear, you could catch something," said the girl's mother, a blond herself. She picked the little girl up and carried her inside. _

_"Daddy said it was okay to!" pleaded the little girl._

_"But daddy isn't four years old," said the girl's mother, tweaking her nose. _

_"Hmph," said the girl, crossing her arms across her chest and pouting. _

_"Innokentiy, that won't get you anywhere," said the girl's father, letting the girl sit on his lap like every father does._

_The girl was defiant. _

_"YOU said it was okay to, but really it wasn't! So that means you lied, daddy, YOU LIED!" said the little girl, jumping off her father's lap and running to her room. Inside her room, she jumped unto her bed and pulled her knees up to her chest and started to rock back and forth. _

_"Innokentiy," said her father, knocking on her door. _

_"GO AWAY!" _

Kent's eyes snapped open. Was that her mother and father she'd been dreaming about? Was that what four-year-old Innokentiy Thomas looked like? Before the training? Before her first kill? Before all the physical and emotional scars? Was she that cynical even before the training?

"At least it's not Otto," she murmured, fixing up the thermal pj's she was wearing along with a long sleeve shirt. She stood up and checked her Blackbox. She'd gotten a message from Laura at exactly the time she woke up.

_How're you and Shelby holding up? Guess what. _

She hit reply and typed,

_Fine. What?_

She hit send and then a reply came back.

_Otto locked Claire and Wing in a closet together. _

_

* * *

_"OTTO! GET ME OUT OF HERE THIS INSTANT!" screamed Claire. She was locked in a closet with her ex-boyfriend, Wing.

She wasn't even sure if they broke up or not.

Wing sat rather comfortably in the corner, oblivious to the scene his ex-girlfriend was making.

"I'm not letting either of you out until you reconcile your so-called differences," said Otto, fighting to keep the laughter from his voice. This was considered a stroke of genius on his part, if he did say himself. Locking them in a closet would rid him both of having to pretend his other friend Claire was invisible for Wing and vice versa.

If Kent were here, he thought, she'd be laughing her head off and whacking him with something for admitting his sheer genius.

If Kent were here.

Laura came walking in, laughing loudly and clutching her Blackbox.

"You told her?" he asked, laughing as well.

"Aye," she replied, half-talking half-laughing.

"What did she say?" he asked, not keeping the "happy couple" from hearing his joy.

Laura opened the message from Kent and showed it to him.

_What?! HAHAHA! Keep me updated, Laura, tell me all about the antics Romeo and Juliet have done! Thanks for brightening up a normally dark, dismal day in Moscow. :D_

Laura closed the message and continued to laugh. Otto did not stop laughing.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, OTTO! NOW LET ME OUT, DAMN YOU!" screamed Claire again, this time pounding on the door.

But she was too late. Otto and Laura left for the library already.

* * *

"Look Shel," said Kent to Shelby as they met outside the rooms.

"AHAHAHAHA!" guffawed Shelby.

The two girls continued to laugh as they went down the grand staircase.

"What do you think would happen to the world's perfect couple?" Shelby joked as they went to the dining room.

"Maybe the little whore would throw herself at the world's noisiest ninja," laughed Kent as they sat at the dinner table. Atarah wasn't there yet.

"Maybe," said Shelby.

"Good morning, ladies, I trust you slept well considering the new climate?" said Atarah suddenly, making Kent jump.

"Yes," they echoed, trying to wipe the smiles off their faces. Atarah didn't seem to notice.

"As you know, today we will visit the Thomas mausoleum. And it is cold. Very cold. Thus, I hope you are hungry," said Atarah, motioning the three or four waiters to lift the reflective silver dish covers. There, set in front of them, were many dishes which Shelby did not know the name of. Kent, however, had not seen this much food since...never. When she lived in Russia, their breakfast usually consisted of bread and Kasha for everyone and coffee or tea for the adults and hot chocolate for her.

"There's buckwheat pancakes, omelets, cured meat sandwiches, bread, cereal, oatmeal, and my personal favorite Russian porridge, Kasha," said Atarah, probably reading their looks of awe and curiosity.

"What's Kasha?" asked Shelby, nervously poking at a sandwich.

"Kasha is whole grain warmed cereal topped with sour cream or anything else. In our case, this is made of oat and topped with blueberries," replied Atarah, serving herself some.

Kent stared at the vast choices in front of her. If she was at HIVE right now, she'd only be getting a slice of bread and some tea. But she wasn't. She thought of this as another day at HIVE, so she got the said meal. Shelby glanced at the minuscule meal her friend was eating. She then got some cereal. She did not want to know what Kasha tasted like.

"Is that all you're eating, Innokentiy?" asked Atarah, dabbing her mouth with a napkin.

"Yes," Kent replied.

"Well I don't think that will sustain you for today."

"As I recall, _obed_ is the heaviest meal, so I'm not going to ruin my appetite for lunch."

Atarah did not say anything. It was clear that Innokentiy had inherited her brother's cockiness. Stephen always was the one with the quick-wit.

"Good that you still remember," was all Atarah could reply.

Said character stood up and went to her room.

"What's _obed_?" asked Shelby once Atarah had left.

"Lunch."

They stood up and went up to their rooms.

Kent looked out the window. There was a woman carrying two buckets full of water. Good luck, her mother used to say. She smiled. That reminded her a lot of her mother. She had blond hair like her, but it was the kind of blond gold looked like when drawn into string. She had grey eyes, not the grey that was hollow and heartless, but the grey that enchanted you. She didn't inherit that, she was sure. Because when she looked in the mirror, her own grey eyes were but mirrors of no emotion. Her mother was happy that Innokentiy was purely Innokentiy. And if her mother was disappointed with her actions, she'd just tell her to not do it again. And that was her firm discipline. Not harsh, but not soft. Her mother always told her to not let her emotions take over, that would be a sure demise. She told her to think about what she was doing all the time.

A beep came from her Blackbox, breaking her chain of memories.

_Hey Kent, it's me Otto, how's it going? Locked Wing and Claire in a closet. No progress yet. But Claire just lost her voice, that's for sure. No word yet from Wing. Not a single peep. I'll tell you if anything happens._

Kent replied begrudgingly. Why did Otto have to ruin her perfect moments?

_Fine. Where are you, anyway? Outside the closet door?_

She hit send. A reply came back fast. Murmuring about how fast Otto replied, she read.

_I'm in the library. I installed a camera in the closet before I locked them in so I don't have to ruin my life watching a door. :_

Kent replied again.

_Great...I have to go. Just pause the conversation. _

She hit send and dressed for going outside the safehouse. She then attempted to look outside the window again. A bird landed on the windowsill. She chased it away and it flew away. A very bad omen, her mother also used to say.

She knocked three times on the adjoining door and turned her head to the left, to avoid tempting fate, as her mother would say.

Shelby opened the door and looked shocked.

"What happened to you? It looks like you've seen a ghost!"

"I didn't see one. Just that a bird landed on my windowsill."

"So?"

"Riiight, I forgot to tell you about some superstitions. In Russia, it's considered a VERY BAD OMEN if a bird lands on your windowsill. You have to shoo it away."

"What's the bad omen of?"

"Death."

* * *

"I feel like we're forgetting something," said Otto, closing the last book he read, or rather, _absorbed_, from the shelf.

"Aye," Laura replied, scratching her head.

"We'll remember eventually," said Otto. Laura nodded.

* * *

"I hate this," said Claire, twirling a loose strand of hair from her bun.

Wing didn't say anything. He trusted her. And he assumed she was everything she said she was. She said before that she was a ninja. And he believed her ever so quickly. She said she was purely Asian. And he believed her. He never stopped to question if she was lying.

She was.

He stared at the girl he was in love with before. He couldn't believe he fell in love with a liar.

"Why did you lie, Clarissa?" he asked suddenly.

"Because all of you have some sort of talent and I don't," she replied quietly.

"What about the sword-fighting? The roundhouse?"

"I took a crash course in self-defense and those two were all I could remember."

"What other things have you lied to me about?"

"Nothing. I have told you everything. Now you know me."

The closet was quite large. It was the size of a small room. Claire stood up.

"Why did you call me Clarissa?" asked Claire, staring at Wing.

He stood up. He was a few inches taller than her.

"That IS your name, is it not?"

"My name? Clarissa Alison Haruno. Yes it is my name."

"Then what is the problem?"

"You very well know I don't like being called that," she replied, voice rising were now dangerously close to each other.

"Well you're not much of a threat once I know you can't do anything already," said Wing, taking a fighting stance.

"You forgot one crucial detail, Wing Fanchu," said Claire as Wing almost killed her.

"What could that be?" he asked.

"That you promised you'd never ever hurt me," she said finally. Wing's face was so close to her's. He stopped attempting to hurt her. He did promise. He promised that no matter what he or she did, he'd never hurt her. He was not one to break promises. He stared into her eyes. They were same shade of blue as his mother's eyes.

He drew back.

He sat down.

Claire started to cry.

Wing stared at the girl, who now collapsed and cried. Claire was still in love with him, that was sure, but the lingering question on her mind was if he still felt the same way.

Wing just stared at her. He didn't know if he was to comfort her or to let her cry.

He chose the latter.

But he could try to help.

The girl sat against the wall and cried silently.

"Claire-," said Wing, making her look at him.

Silent tears rolled down her cheeks.

"_Anata wo aishite imasu_," he said quietly.

She sniffed and wiped away her tears on her sleeve.

"Look what you've done to me," she said, smiling, "I've become soft."

"Nah," he replied. He missed her smile.

She gave him another smile.

She stood up.

"Truce?" she asked, holding out her hand for him.

"Yeah," he said, taking her hand. He stood up. He was tired of fighting. Before they were more than friends, they were friends. He disliked fighting with a friend.

"Now we have a bigger problem," he said, letting go.

"How do we get out of here," she replied, shaking her head.

"Maybe they're still outside," said Wing, pacing circles around her.

"Stop doing that, you're making me dizzy," she said, stopping Wing with her foot.

He didn't trip, but he stopped in his tracks.

"So how do you propose we get out of here?" he asked.

"I say you break down the door," she replied.

"What? I can't break down the door!"

"You can try," She replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Wing raised an eyebrow.

Claire tilted her head to the side.

He ran to the other side of the room, stopped there, then ran towards the door, ramming his shoulder into it. He made a dent in the door. A dent, and his shoulder was throbbing with pain.

"Why did you make me do that?!" he exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder.

"I didn't make you, you just acted of your own accord," she replied with a smirk, "now let me at that door."

* * *

**So that's the cliffhanger. **

**And I'm not telling what that phrase meant, go translate it yourself.**

**Good luck. **

**So rate and review, NOW!**


	12. From Russia With Love

**The twelfth chapter.**

**In case you've forgotten, here's what happened so far; Wing and Claire reconciled their differences, Kent told Shelby of the omen of death, and Otto forgot something very important. **

**So you're all probably itching to know what happened. **

**But I have to do this first. **

**Double Entente: Do the disclaimer.**

**Kent: "Double Entente owns nothing but Innokentiy, Claire, and Constantine." Wait, YOU OWN ME???**

**Double Entente: Yes, I own you, now shut up.**

**T.G.F.H. (Thank God For HIVE)**

**

* * *

**"I don't suppose YOU can break down this door, Claire?"

"Oh, you've done quite enough damage for me to do."

Claire walked over to the door, searched around her pockets a bit, then got a knife.

"A knife? I believe that you can do this and all, but how?" asked Wing incredulously.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what this little bad boy can do," Claire grinned. Wing raised an eyebrow.

She slid the knife into the crevice of the door. A few seconds later of sliding, Claire's smile faltered.

"Damn. It won't work."

Then Wing grinned.

Claire glared at him.

"Let me try," Wing said.

He then tried everything to break down the door or at least weaken it.

Nothing happened.

He then heaved a great sigh. Claire stopped glaring and smiled weakly at him.

Wing looked at Claire and returned the embarrassed smile.

"I guess we'll have to wait," Claire said.

"It seems to be the only option," he replied.

She motioned for him to sit down. He sat down beside her.

"So what do you suppose we do?"

"Perhaps we play a game."

"What game Wing?"

"I honestly don't know."

* * *

"You two go first," said Atarah. Shelby stepped into the car in full winter apparel, which her and Kent so carefully assembled.

Kent came in after her, looking around that nobody saw them.

She sat beside Shelby. Atarah sat opposite them.

"Ground rules, ladies: I am always to be with you. No one must make any loud sounds. If you do talk, you must talk in extremely low voices. Not one of you is to leave my sight. Clear?"

"Yes," they echoed.

They did not talk for the duration of the trip. They were too afraid that Atarah would record it or listen in.

"We're here."

Atarah came out first and opened the door for them. Kent came out after in a hat and coat. She brought the collar up once more. She was too used to the warm climate HIVE had. Shelby linked arms with her and they followed Atarah to the mausoleum. They walked across the graves, and they both touched one of their buttons. They walked until the border of the cemetery. They looked around for the mausoleum. Then they saw that it was right in front of them. It was white, so it blended in with the heavy snow. They walked up the steps and went in. Inside were two coffins; one a beautiful white one like the outside, and a black one that stood out from the white walls. Shelby assumed that the white was Kent's mother and the black was Kent's father.

Shelby stood in the corner, to not make it seem like she was intruding. Kent went in between the coffins, and stroked her mother's coffin. Atarah was beside her brother's coffin. She began to speak.

"Hey Stephen," Atarah began, "I'm sorry we couldn't bring you and Nikita flowers. It's kinda cold. I miss you, you know? I miss my twin brother. You've got a great daughter. Shame I couldn't take care of her."

"MaMa," Kent began to say, "It's been a long time since I've seen you. I love you, mom, I love you. I miss you both. Have I told you that I finally perfected my aim? Thanks to Akilina. You really made a good choice of leaving me to her. I love you mom."

Shelby stared at the two of them, speaking to coffins as if the people residing in them were really there listening.

Atarah looked away from her brother's coffin and went in a corner. Kent stared at her mother's coffin, then her father's. She then stroked each with one of her hands.

"May we leave now?"

"Yes, Innokentiy, we may," replied Atarah.

They got back in the car.

All three of them.

"We shall be serving lunch soon," said Atarah once they had arrived and gotten in.

Kent dashed up to her room, eager to talk with Shelby to let all her feelings out.

She took off her hat and her coat. She then knocked on the adjoining door.

Shelby opened the door and let Kent into her room.

"You okay?"

"No."

"Why?"

"I'm just...I dunno, I guess I don't like the feeling of Atarah as my relative."

"I see what you mean."

"How can you see?"

"It's just that she's sort of bossy and overwhelming."

"I just can't believe that she's actually related to me."

"I guess you have to deal with it."

"Deal with it. Great."

"It'll be fine."

"If you say so."

* * *

"How many hours has it been, Wing?"

"I can't recall, Claire."

Claire sat beside Wing.

"God, I'm getting thirsty."

"As am I."

"What do you suppose we do?"

"I do not know."

---

"Dr. Nero, monitoring systems picked up something in a closet."

"What?"

"People, sir. Students."

"Very well. I'll attend to this myself."

"As you wish, sir."

---

Nero walked towards a closet near the library. Apparently another student had locked them in here. He didn't even know who the students were. All he knew was that they were locked in a closet.

He unlocked the damaged door to find Wing Fanchu and Claire Haruno. They eagerly stepped outside.

"Dr. Nero," said Wing.

"Sorry, headmaster," Claire said.

"No apologies required. Who locked you in there in the first place?"

They looked at each other.

"Otto sir," said Claire softly.

Malpense. Again. When he thought Malpense was a genius he pulls an act of stupidity.

Sigh.

* * *

"_Will Student Malpense proceed to the headmaster's office now please."_

Otto walked towards Nero's office. He knew forgetting something important would catch up with him eventually. Why did he even forget in the first place?

He walked in.

"Mr. Malpense," said Nero.

He looked at Nero.

"Why did you lock Fanchu and Haruno in a closet?"

Before he could answer, a beep came from the phone.

"Doctor, Students Thomas and Trinity have arrived."

"I thought they wouldn't come until tomorrow."

"Ahead of schedule, sir."

"Very well. Tell them to wait for me there."

He then turned to Otto.

"I am afraid this has to be cut short. But I'll be expecting you to not pull this stunt again."

"Yes sir," Otto replied.

"Go."

Otto went to the hangar. There he saw a Shroud and his three other friends, Laura, and to his surprise, Wing with his arm on Claire's shoulder. Seems his stunt worked.

Then Nero came at the foot of the ramp.

Shelby appeared first, eagerly taking off her hat and coat to reveal her HIVE uniform.

"Hi guys!" she said brightly.

Kent then came after, in her coat and hat, looking paler than when she left.

"Ahead of schedule, Ms. Thomas," said Nero.

"Yes sir."

"I am glad you are both back in one piece though."

"Me too, sir, me too."

Nero went and left them to catch up.

"So? How was Russia? Cold?" asked Claire to Shelby.

"Hell yeah! It was frickin' negative sixty-eight degrees!"

Otto struck up a conversation with Kent.

"So you visited your parents?"

"Yeah."

"How was it?"

"Okay, I guess."

"Did Laura tell you I locked Wing and Claire in a closet together?"

"Yeah."

Without warning, she whacked him hard on the head.

She was laughing.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"While I was gone, you probably admitted you were a genius. I needed to whack you to get some sense in it."

"How'd you know?"

"I know you. I'm surprised this place is still standing, honestly."

"Ha ha very funny."

They walked back to the dorms.

Wing and Otto returned to theirs, which left Claire and Kent to go back to theirs.

Otto hoped they wouldn't kill each other.

Hopefully.

* * *

**Ha, the whack. **

**Lovely. **

**Aren't they so fast?**

**Simply because they were a new term I coined (I think) HIVEsick. **

**I shall be distributing little snippets of terms. **

**What fun. **

**Check the chapter name, it's a James Bond movie. **

**I just love James Bond. **

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Decennium!**

**Rate & Review please!  
**


	13. Nightingale

**Ooh, two bitches in the same room together.**

**Catfights are a thing of the past.**

**A snippet of a term.**

**What do you call the act of ridding the world of Cypher?**

**DeCyphering. Ok, I'm fine now.**

**Back to the important stuff.**

**I own nothing but Kent and Claire.**

* * *

Claire wanted to hug her friend, but she couldn't. Half of her hated Innokentiy's guts, the other missed the friend who always seemed to find a twinge of humor in her darkest moment.

When Wing dumped her, she wanted to cry her eyes out to Kent, and wait for her to make her laugh and remember that Wing was just a boy. But she'd lied to everyone, which included Innokentiy. She told everyone she was a ninja, and everyone took the bait.

She regretted that. Especially once she recalled the fact that Innokentiy could kill her slowly, quietly, and painfully. They met a week after the start of classes officially; when Otto, Wing, Shelby, Laura, and she thought that Innokentiy was male.

Well she was female.

Innokentiy's mother and father were dead, and Claire knew that. Innokentiy hated her mother, a beautiful sounding woman named Nikita. But Kent hated her. Her mother wanted her to be perfectly deadly, so she was trained in death-bringing. A man named Konstantin Mikhailov trained her, and he was far from soft. Konstantin was so enraged by Pietor Furan, the man who trained the world's deadliest assassin, Raven. So he trained her rigorously. She knew nothing of toys, games, and childlike fun. Konstantin took Innokentiy's childhood and threw it in the blood-stained streets of underground Moscow.

Innokentiy was calmly unpacking her things, not staring at all in her former friend's direction.

Before Claire had let loose the truth to the greatest lie of her life, they were BFF's, Claire called them. Innokentiy would shrug it off when Claire would call them that, almost like a boy. Innokentiy was trained like a boy, and Konstantin did not care what gender she was. Either way, he would train her to be the best.

She was the best, except for Raven. Her codename was Nightingale, because she wanted her voice to be the last thing her victims heard before they succumbed to death, similar to the nightingale's song the last thing you hear before going to sleep. Innokentiy would sing a simple, quiet, and creepy song which went like this:

_"You were a fool to believe, a fool to believe, it all ends today. Inside my heart doesn't break, don't plead, what difference will that make. My smile still stays on. I vowed you would pay, and now you are."_

Then she'd kill them.

Claire shuddered at that thought. If Kent sang that to her, it would surely mean her end. But Kent seemed so quiet, in her own world of anonymity. Claire's feelings were so pent up inside her she felt she could just drop dead to relieve herself of the pain.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out.

Kent looked at her with her scarily emotionless grey eyes. She seemed to say, 'sorry doesn't make it any better,' with her blank eyes.

"I know it doesn't make it any better," she began, "but you're one of my best friends. It's as if a part of you is always with me, and if you're not there, I'm just not myself."

Kent raised an eyebrow. At least some emotion showed through.

"I know I sound like a Hallmark card, but life isn't the same. Nobody tells me I look like a whore in Russian if I wear something trashy. Nobody tells me to stop thinking about love with a whack from the back. And nobody tells me about how cold Russia is in the winter."

Kent sneered.

"Are you gay or something?" she asked.

Claire nearly hit her. But that wouldn't be advisable.

"I AM ROD STRAIGHT."

Kent continued sneering. A song began to play from Kent's Blackbox.

"'_When you go, would you even turn to say, 'I don't love you like I did yesterday._'"

Claire raised her eyebrow. This was emo.

Kent answered the call and talked in Russian. Claire couldn't tell who she was talking to, but she got most of the conversation.

"_Privyet. Neplokho. Ya tebya panimayu. Ti takaya neobichnaya. Ya bystro gavaryu? Izvinite. Vsyo v poryadke? Da, sevodnya. Normalno. Ya tebya lyublyu. Shto? Gde? Prastite. Vsyo pad kontrolem. Pa dozh dee. Mozhna? Da. Dosvidaniya. Dovstrechi._"

Kent put the phone off and looked at Claire.

"You have no business listening in to my conversation," she said in a voice that could freeze blood.

Claire took that as a back off so she went away.

* * *

**Right, that was short...**

**Dosvidaniya!  
**


	14. Luminously Virtuous

**I haven't updated in so long for this story, I had to fish out what happened before from my computer. **

**Sigh. **

**So, since my two biggest (and yet, maybe only) fans have been bugging me to update, here it is!**

**I own nothing but Kent, Claire, and TWO new OCs I'm adding in this chapter!**

**Welcome Luminita Funar and Kielo Virtanen! *applause***

* * *

Claire's Blackbox rang as she got out of her dorm. She reluctantly answered call. "Somebody better be dying, or I'm turning this damned phone off."

"Chill, Haruno, it's me," answered the measured voice on the other end of the line. Her heart made a quick skip. She rolled her eyes at herself. "What now, Fanchu?" she asked irritably. "Meet me at the training grounds, will ya?" said Wing. Claire gasped quietly in her mind. Wing was using slang on her. American slang. "Yeah sure, whatever you say," she muttered. She ran towards the training grounds. The only other thing she was good at, she thought. Running. Next to lying. She arrived at the training grounds faster than you could say 'faster!'

Wing stood there, looking like he was usually; tall, dark, and… even Claire had to admit, handsome. He held a small throwing star in his hand. Claire gulped. She was getting scared now.

"Hey C," said Wing, using his nickname for her. Butterflies fluttered about in her stomach. She mentally asked herself why. "Hey," she replied. "Are you afraid or something?" asked Wing out of the blue. "Of what? What could possibly scare me?" she lied. Duplicity was her specialty, and if Wing believed her before, when she was at the top of her game, she would make him believe now, since her knew her secret, and she upped her game.

Wing cocked an eyebrow. He threw the shuriken. It flew right past Claire's ear, and she could hear the 'swoosh' of it as it came past. "What was that?" asked Claire dubiously. "We-meaning I-have to train you," said Wing. "Train me? Why?" she asked. "You lied, remember? And since all of H.I.V.E. knows, you're more than vulnerable to whatever comes our way. And often what come our way are enemies that seek to kill." Claire blinked. Wing? Train her? No way. NO FRICKIN' WAY.

"Who put you up to this menial task?" asked Claire. "No one did. I stepped, as the Americans say, up to the plate," he replied coolly, getting the shuriken out from the wall with ease. "You wish to train me in self-defense?" Claire questioned. "I see you know taekwondo. I will work on the others," he said, brushing some sawdust off the shuriken. How did he know she did actually know taekwondo? "Like what?" she inquired, this time examining the shuriken. "Enough chatter. To work," he said in a cold voice. And so they did. Little did they know that a nightingale and a snowflake were watching them.

"See that, Otto? That, my dear friend, is a warrior," Kent whispered to Otto. Otto shrugged. They were in the library, watching Wing train Claire. Kent found Claire quite amusing, and Otto wished to try out the N7, the small camera that masqueraded as a nightingale which he had perfected. Otto was enjoying the fact that the librarian didn't care that they weren't reading, and that they were the only ones on the upper floor. "Come on, let's get out of here," said Kent, picking her bag up. Otto nodded, and they went down the grand wooden staircase. Otto slipped a couple of times; the staircase was mopped previously. Kent didn't; she was nimbly walking on the banister. When Otto slipped, she laughed. He would glare in her direction, and she would return it. That was the way they had fun. By the time they were out of the library, they were laughing so hard their sides ached.

Wing and Claire proceeded getting out, Claire had enough; proof was her arm, where there had marks of Wing's death grip. Wing dripped with sweat; so did she. It just so happened that the grounds were close to the magma. The heat there was above tolerable. Claire's long, ebony locks were tied high, while some finer hairs stuck to her forehead. The two of them heard laughter; one a boy's and one a girl's. And maybe others. Wing practically had, ironically, wings on his feet. He seemed to run, though he was walking. Claire caught up with him; as she was fast. Claire saw a flash of long, fair hair. She knew the laughter. It was one of those things she rarely heard.

Kent's laugh. They were laughing with two other girls; one a brunette and the other a strawberry blond. Otto's arm was slung over Kent's shoulder; one of those brotherly gestures Wing did when he and Claire were having fun. Kent's grey eyes were lit up with joy, and Otto's blue orbs hovered in laughter. Claire felt a pang of jealousy. Wing and her used to be like that. Well, before the whole duplicity-discovered thing. And the whole I-LOVE-YOU-DAMN-IT-BUT-YOU'RE-DEADLY thing.

She turned to Wing, and a small smile skittered across his face for a split second. Claire giggled. Usually if a trace of a smile came across his visage, it was a telltale sign of evil, mischief, or dropped morals. He only ever did fall into the first sign. He liked it when she laughed. Wing thought Claire's light, girly laugh went quite well against her demeanor and looks, which looked so blank. Well, for the moment it was blank, he was teaching her to keep a straight face. He slung his arm over Claire's shoulder; he was tall, but she was too. He was taller, still.

"Hey Wing!" said a voice. Wing looked to his friend. "Yes?" asked Wing, dragging Claire with him. "Meet Luminita Funar," said Otto, pointing to the strawberry blond with a nudge of the head. Luminita had green eyes and a short yet stocky form. "Pleased to meet you," said the short girl in a high-pitched voice, extending her arm out to Wing. Claire went out from under Wing's arm, forcing him to shake the new girl's hand. He shook the short girl's hand. The girl was about a quarter of Wing's size. Luminita started to talk with Claire. "This is Kielo Virtanen," said Kent, releasing from Otto's arm and nudging the brunette to Wing. The brunette had blue eyes, very different from Claire's, and was a few inches taller than Luminita. Claire talked with Luminita.

"So what are you guys in for?" asked the girl, her Romanian accent obvious. "Well, I'm here 'cause I lied to the Minister for State Security in Japan; Shelby's here 'cause she's the Wraith; Laura's here 'cause she broke into a military base; Wing's here 'cause he's a ninja-" Luminita gasped, "Otto's here 'cause he's basically a genius; and Kent…" Claire broke off. She didn't feel like talking about her ex-best friend.

"Kent is the second world's deadliest assassin," Wing cut in. "I assume they told you about Raven?" asked Kent. "We knew about her from the start," said Kielo quietly. "And you, Luminita, do you know of the one named Nightingale?" asked Otto. "I am afraid so. The Nightingale killed our leader, and up to now the police haven't found the Nightingale," Luminita shuddered. "Do you wish to know who she is?" asked Wing to Luminita. "She? The Nightingale is a woman?" asked Luminita incredulously. "Surely, you must be joking." Otto grinned evilly. "A girl, Luminita, a girl," he said. "Who? I promise I will not come forth to the police," Luminita promised. Wing didn't want to go make this innocent hate Kent, but they all had to tell the truth. "Well? Who is this Nightingale of which you speak?" asked Kielo impatiently.

"I am," said Kent in a cold voice.

* * *

**Ooh, an actual plot!**

**So please do review, I'm running out of the will to write. **

**I forgot to say in the note above; I'm dedicating this chapter to Tera and Tammy, the only two people who bug me to update and read my story. **

**R&R, I worked hard on this!  
**


	15. PreMission Jitters

**Gasp!**

**Bet you didn't see that cliffhanger coming, did you?**

**Well let's see what happens next. **

**I own nothing but my OCs. **

**Onward to story!**

* * *

"What? How can that be?!" said Kielo in horror. "Well it's true," said Otto calmly. "But I thought that the Nightingale was the second world's deadliest assassin? Next to Raven, I mean?" asked Luminita. "She is, and what's so hard to accept about that?" said Claire.

"Nothing," said Luminita softly. They weren't looking at Kent anymore.

Otto looked around. "Where's Kent?"

"Let's go find her," said Wing. They all nodded. They looked in every single room and place in H.I.V.E. The library was clear, the training grounds were clear, and the biotechnology lab was clear.

Otto brought out his Blackbox and called up the AI. "H.I.V., can you bring up any footage of Kent on your mainframe at this time?"

"Student Thomas was taken into a Shroud unit, Otto," replied the AI calmly. "Shroud unit? Kidnapping?" Otto inquired. "No, Nightingale willingly boarded the Shroud."

Otto snapped the PDA shut. "So what happened to Nightingale?" asked Kielo. "She boarded a Shroud to who knows where," Otto sighed.

"We have to find her then," said Luminita. "You think, Luminita?!" said Claire irritably. "She's a newbie, Claire, go easy on her," said Wing as Luminita shrank back.

"We have to tell Nero and Raven," nodded Kielo. "No. That won't work. Only Raven," Otto breathed back. "Alright, if that's what you think would help Kent," said Claire quietly.

"We don't have time to tell anyone. Let's just get a Shroud. Who knows what she's doing on that Shroud," Wing said hurriedly.

They nodded and proceeded to the hangar. A Shroud was miraculously there.

"Dammit, Wing, the Shroud is still chained down," said Otto, gesturing to the bolts anchoring the jet to the ground. "Luminita! Hack into the Shroud mainframe and get us out of here," said Wing to Luminita, who was already on the plane. "She'll take too much time. Let me at it," volunteered Kielo, taking a pistol out of a holster. She aimed at each one and shot at it. The bolts broke, and they could already take flight. "OTTO! WE HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM!" shouted Luminita. "What?!" shouted Otto back angrily, about to board the jet. "None of us can fly a plane!" Luminita was already red in the face from screaming at Otto. Otto shook his head, boarded the jet and got into the cockpit. He put his hands on the controls and went into his strange state of mind. He saw each control, from how to open the doors, to unlock the bolts, and he searched for the ones that controlled the plane. There. He reached for it, and he felt his physical self weakening, and he knew they were in the air. He had to sustain controlling the plane while monitoring for any sign of another Shroud. He pushed himself to turn the stealth mode on.

Maybe when they were above New York, he found one. It was also in stealth mode, but it was easy for him to spot. He knew that within Kent's daggers were tracking devices that only revealed themselves to those Kent answered to. He searched for those beacons within the plane.

He found them.

He collapsed.

Wing saw Otto collapse, blood streaming from his nostrils. He jammed the autopilot button on. He looked paler than ever, just like every other time he was inside a computer mainframe. Wing cradled Otto's head.

"Otto! Wake up!" he said, and his friend's eyes moved open. "Wing? I found her. I found Kent," said Otto weakly. "Where is she? Where is Kent?" he asked back. Otto breathed in, and a few traces of his original color trailed back into his cheeks. "There. In that Shroud."

"Okay. They're landing," Wing observed. The Shroud landed on a nondescript building on the Upper East Side, from what the Shroud display said. He landed the plane on another building, and motioned for Luminita and Kielo to get out. "Are you going to be okay, Otto?" Wing asked. Otto shot up and nodded.

He turned to Claire and said, "How good of a liar are you, Claire?"

"A really good one."

The four of them donned some thermoptic camouflage suits that they found in the Shroud and went down into the building. There was an empty unit, and the owner was Emma Cleathe-Stuart, one of the names Kent used when she was in America. They found out that the building beside them was where Kent was.

"Right, here's the plan," said Otto, laying out a blueprint on the soft queen sized bed. The other three gathered around the white-haired boy. "Viper, that's you, Wing; stays here on the west side. I'm pretty sure Kent is in this room right here," pointed Otto to the blueprint. "Sparrow, that's Claire; you get in the room the easy way," Claire nodded. "Baudelaire, that's Luminita for the rest of the operation, will be hacking into the security cameras of the… Waldorf-Astoria building to wipe any footage of Sparrow two on the tapes, just to make sure nobody gets caught or remembered," Otto shoved Luminita the notebook computer attached to his pack. "Dante, Kielo, you're our last resort. If anyone gets caught or Kent is about to, erm, be endangered, you just come down from your post and assist," he patted Kielo on the shoulder. "What are you going to do?" asked Wing. "I'm going to be watching from the east wing," Otto replied calmly. "Codename?" Dante interjected. "Axis. That'll have to do," he replied breathlessly.

"Wait a sec; we have to blend in somehow, right?" asked Sparrow. Viper and Axis nodded. "So do you think that'll happen with us wearing jumpsuits?" she continued. Axis shook his head. "But how do you suppose we find wardrobe in New York without money?" he asked.

"I have money, Allied, that's how," said Sparrow. "It's Axis, Sparrow, and would it kill you to resemble some sort of intellect?" Axis retorted.

"Enough of this petty quarrelling. This will not get Nightingale back. If you must go find something for us to better blend in, then go. But I am to be with you there," said Viper to a quarrelling Axis and Sparrow. "Agreed, Viper. You are to be with Sparrow….where, exactly?" Axis asked.

"Saks Fifth Avenue," replied Sparrow vainly, examining her nails. Otto motioned for Wing. "Have you heard of that place?" he whispered. "Only the street, not the store," replied Wing. Otto nodded anyway.

"Fine. But be back as soon as possible. We have to get this plan into action now," ordered Axis. The two Asians nodded and exited the apartment. He turned to Baudelaire and Dante, who were looking curiously at Otto.

"Otto-sir-why is your hair so white?" asked Baudelaire, staring up at his spiky barnet. "It's just that way from birth, Lu, and you don't have to call me sir," Otto grinned. Luminita ducked her head bashfully as she heard him utter her childhood nickname. "And Otto, what is Nightingale to you?" Dante asked as her friend was dying of joy.

Otto stopped to think.

What was she to him?

------

Meanwhile, on Fifth Avenue, Claire was both overjoyed and dismayed at the prospect of Wing accompanying her to Saks. First because he'd be there, second because he'd be the subject of today's gossip in a prissy private school.

He towered over her, and his jumpsuit didn't help onlookers stray their attention elsewhere. He asked her questions as she looked over things for him.

"So you've been here before?" he asked as she put up a pinstriped necktie to his chin. "Yeah," she replied, putting the tie down. If Wing was going to be some sort of aristocratic being in the hallway, he had to look the part. "People didn't ogle you?" Wing inquired, seeing the forms of American women surreptitiously giving him a look. "Boys did," she said nonchalantly, selecting a cotton shirt. "Ah, now why wouldn't they," he teased.

She smiled, and dragged him to the checkout counter. The cashier (who, mind you, was male) looked upon Wing in a not-so-platonic way. Claire rolled her blue eyes.

"Card?" Wing whispered in her ear as she handed over a shiny piece of plastic. "Yes, a card. You think I actually did the whole ATM withdrawal thing? Right," she replied, taking the bags from the checkout girl.

"That all?" he asked. "Yes, that is all. Just wait till Kent sees Otto, she'll half-faint," Claire smirked. "You really don't like her, do you?" he asked, hailing a cab. "She used to be my best friend. I can't say there's some level of hatred in the used to be part," she replied.

They arrived at the apartment building, and only then did they realize that where Kent was being held at the moment was a hotel, an expensive one at that. The Waldorf-Astoria seemed the place to be.

Wing opened the door for Claire, and she stepped in to find Otto laying out another blueprint.

"See here," said Otto, noticing the Asian pair walk in, "change of plans. Lu and Kielo are going to be with me and Wing, since we're going to be in the hallway as two business heirs and completely important, so they'll let us in. Get it, Wing?"

Wing nodded. Claire shrugged and went to the bathroom, which, much to her dismay, was locked. She looked at everyone to see that nobody was missing.

"Why is this bathroom locked?" she asked, banging on the door. "I think she didn't want anyone to get in there," Otto guessed. "Well, how the hell are all five of us supposed to change?" she put one hand on her hip defiantly.

"Dunno," Kielo shrugged. "I saw a white sheet over there in the corner, if you want," Luminita offered. Claire rolled her eyes and nodded. The short strawberry blond walked over to a corner and picked up a large cotton sheet. "Is it okay that you just change in that corner over there?" asked Kielo. "Do I have a choice?" scoffed Claire. Luminita could not help but roll her eyes at the brat. What did Wing see in the girl?

"I'm not very tall, so I obviously can't hold the sheet," said Luminita. "I can't either, I'm useless," added Kielo. Otto sighed. "Guess it's just you and me, Wing."

Wing nodded tersely and held up the sheet to let Claire change.

The boys hated it.

They hoped soon enough they'd forget all about it.

* * *

**Cliffhanger. :P**

**Sorry if I update so late. I'm busy.**

**R&R!**


	16. Girlish Charm

**Terribly sorry I couldn't update sooner, I've been horrendously busy lately. **

**I don't own anything except my OCs.**

**So you all want to see the mission itself, no? I warn you that this will be a two-part feature.**

**Then I don't withhold you any longer.**

* * *

Wing would enter first with Kielo, seeing as she was taller than Luminita and that Wing needed someone remotely tall for the main entrance. Then Otto would follow with Luminita, using the other entrance. Claire would be first, and be the one to give Wing the signal, henceforth Wing would give Otto the signal for him to get in.

Claire, mind you, was masquerading as a whore picked up by the mafia leader, Nikolay Sergeyvich Bondarenko, who happened to have seemed to employ Nightingale. A voice crackled over Wing's earpiece.

"Viper? It's Sparrow. Clear."

Wing turned to the remotely tall Finnish girl beside him. Kielo had chocolate brown hair, clear alabaster skin, and hazel eyes. Her form was of a sniper, for that was what she was. It was skinny, good for running too.

Through the polished doors of the main entrance of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel came the sharply dressed Mr. Shinobu Kurosawa (a.k.a. Wing Fanchu) with the charming Kirsikki Vanhanen (a.k.a. Kielo Virtanen) on his arm. The Asian business tycoon had reserved a room under his name (courtesy of Otto Malpense's hacking skills) and before that wished to talk with his people before checking in. This behavior was normal among businessmen after all, so the attendant at the check-in desk did not mind that.

Once the pair had gotten in the elevator, Wing pressed the button on his earpiece. "Claire? What floor is she on?"

"17th."

Kielo pressed the seventeenth elevator button. She checked her weaponry (a fully-loaded Desert Eagle Pistol) to make sure it hadn't shown up while she walked.

There was a soft 'ding' that signaled their arrival and they hastily went out and casually walked over to the east wing, where there were about a hundred other people mingling. Turns out that Bondarenko's wife was hosting a big party while her husband toyed with whores.

To their luck, everyone was drunk.

Wing and Kielo stayed near the suite in which Kent was being held (Suite 1702) to all their boundaries. The wing was quite large, and just in case some of Bondarenko's men would turn up, they'd be able to get both Kent and Claire out of the damn suite.

There was a drunken businessman who had started talking to Wing (er, Shinobu Kurosawa) about stocks. Wing, being the master of changing topics, told him one piece of information then pretended to talk with Kirsikki (Kielo) so that both of them stayed awake.

As the party raged on, Kirsikki Vanhanen pressed her hidden earpiece.

"Dante to Axis, we're clear on west wing."

Otto nodded, and looked at himself. He was dressed in a black suit, a white shirt, and a silken black tie. His shiny black shoes annoyed him with their sparkle. There was a black fedora on his head to conceal his hair, which was a dead giveaway of his true identity.

Luminita's strawberry blond hair, lichen-colored eyes, and petite form did nothing to conceal the fact that she radiated knowledge, annoyance, and weakness.

From the side entrance came Mr. Jack Bond (1) and Miss Viorica Ardealean, and when they were asked why they were there, they replied that they were going to the party being held on the seventeenth floor. The attendant led them to the elevator, and Viorica thanked the attendant on Mr. Bond's behalf.

In the elevator, Luminita already wiped every trace of them ever being there, courtesy of the tiny notebook computer she held. Otto's mind began to wonder what Claire did so that Bondarenko took her to the hotel in a heartbeat.

_Damned girlish charm._

**

* * *

K, that's part one. **

**(1) I said **_**Jack**_**, not **_**James**_** Bond.**

**R&R!**


	17. Masked Testimonies

**PART TWO OF THE MISSION FEATURE!!!!**

**I still only own my OCs.**

**BEHOLD, PART TWO!!!!**

* * *

"So you're saying, Bondarenko," Kent began in perfect Russian. "That the man has angered you, the mafia, and deserves to shot right off his useless Italian ass?"

"Exactly what I'm saying, Nightingale," replied Bondarenko, lighting a cigar and sipping his vodka. He stroked the hair of the pretty dark-haired girl who sat on his lap, amused by the Russians speaking their native tongue.

"Nicky," began the girl in English. "Why did you cut the thing's hair? It was _so _pretty."

Nightingale's famed blond locks were no longer long and down, they were now cut to a hastily done pixie cut that one of Bondarenko's whores (besides the pretty dark-haired girl) had done while she was drunk and high on meth.

Kent looked like a girl Otto, save for the color of her spiky mane and her features.

She did not object to the haircut, but she felt threatened to shoot Claire right between her pretty little eyes, for she watched as the whore began to cut away at her mane. They didn't even sweep her hair away properly, and traces of the blond tresses sat on the floor, mocking Kent.

And Claire called her _the thing._ Airheaded bitch.

"That was the problem, my dear Casey," replied Bondarenko affectionately, swigging more vodka. "She became too pretty for killing mindlessly."

Bondarenko seemed to be joking, so Claire laughed a tinkling, girly, high-pitched laugh. Kent forced a grin on her face, since she was still not used to the lighter weight on her head. It felt odd, yet freeing.

"So? What are you still doing here, Nightingale? Go! Kill that son of a bitch Italian godfather!" said Bondarenko, waving his cigar around. Kent nodded.

A gunshot ensued, and it hit Nikolay squarely in the chest. Kent moved back, and raised her arms in innocence, followed by "I don't have a gun on me!" which she said in Russian.

Claire shot up, scared of all the blood that was on her hands and in her hair. Otto, Wing, Kielo, and Luminita, once hearing the gunshot and the Russian, ran to the suite and desperately tried to open the door, since some of Bondarenko's men were fast approaching from the west wing.

Wing kicked down the door, astonished (but it didn't show in his face) to see a short-haired Kent, a bloody Claire, and a dead body strewn higgledy-piggledy over a couch holding a cigar. Once Kent saw Wing's face, she drew glared at Claire, even though she was speaking Japanese to herself and her bloody fingertips.

"And which idiot suggested you send the cavalry? I'm sure Nero knows nothing about this," she said coldly to the four teenagers who entered the suite. "And you brought some innocents along? Bravo, Otto, I never thought I'd live to see the day when you'd cross the line of pure idiosyncrasies and forwarded into insanity," she added, once she saw Otto curiously examining the body.

"Well? Get out of here! All of you! We should all be leaving right now, Bondarenko's men are almost here," Kent said listlessly, obviously referring to the din of footsteps in the hallway.

"We can't use the door, the goons are gonna catch us there," said Kielo, drawing up her Desert Eagle. "Where the hell do you suppose we make our exit?!" asked Luminita hysterically, her breathing quickening in panic. Otto got a mischievous gleam in his blue eyes, and he looked at Kent.

_Wow, it's either I haven't seen you in a while, or you've seriously become more of a girl,_ thought Otto, his mind wandering away for a split second. He realized that she had a heart-shaped face, with a jaw that remarked angles, a nose that went downward like an arrow, grey irises that were glazed and blank, and moderately puffy lips that were currently scowling. He broke out of his little trance, and said to Kent, "That's an awfully big window."

She blinked, and then nodded her understanding. She took a pistol from her own untraceable holster, shot the fragile glass, and it broke. There was a building right across, and all they had to do was get a grappler and swing.

BANG!

A bullet sped, and hit Claire in the shoulder. She screamed, and the blood continued to trail down her arm. Tears began to fall from her blue eyes, and she swore in Japanese. "I've been shot before, and I don't recall it being very painful," said Wing nonchalantly.

Claire screamed again. "That's because you were hit with a tranquilizer, and we all thought you were dead! You weren't _awake_ for the pain!"

Kent stamped her foot. "Bloody hell! Stop screaming, for God's sake! You're going to get all of us killed!"

Claire fell silent. But they were too late. A bullet sped through the shattered window, and hit Kent in her stomach, much like the time Constantine Ivanovic shot her. She seemed to be in pain, but she was so quiet about it. She reached around her and got a grappler, pulled the trigger, and watched the grappling hook latch itself on the building.

"Okay, there are six of us," she said in a weaker, strangled voice. "Who goes first?"

Luminita was pushed forward, seeing as she was the smallest and the lightest. Kent nodded, and swung them across. Luminita's scream could be heard, but it ended soon as she seemed safe enough. Kent swung back with the grace of a ballerina, and yet her landing wasn't as such. As she stumbled a bit as she went the through the window, her short hair visibly messed up. "Wing, you're good with grapplers, so you take Miss Haruno over here," she said, giving the grappler to Wing. He nodded, and took Claire to the other building. Wing pushed the grappler back, still attached to the building, and Kent caught the thing.

She looked at the two people left; an idiotic genius, and an innocent sniper. She sighed, and got the sniper first, and the sniper swung over to the rest of the cavalry. She glared at the white-haired boy.

"I've heard stories of you that you can't use a grappler properly, and I certainly don't trust you with one that Nero issued to me without prior squabbles. Cling well, and cherish your life."

Otto nodded.

Her advice was straightforward and clear, but it masked a terrible sentence she never wanted to utter.

_Don't die, damn it, I haven't told you how I still love you._

She delivered him to the other side, and she unlatched the grappler.

"Okay, now go home, _all of you._"

**

* * *

Ta-da! That's the mission feature. **

**R&R, you know you want to….**


	18. Graduation Day

**See the chapter title? That marks the end of D&CH, the story **_**some**_** people follow with a passion. **

**I've graduated already, so this is a tribute to my batch. **

**This ends with a cliffhanger, I warn you, but a sequel in the works means this won't be the necessary end of it. **

**I own, for the last time; Innokentiy Thomas, Claire Haruno, Constantine Ivanovic, Luminita Funar, and Kielo Virtanen.**

***above mentioned characters do final bow***

_**

* * *

**__A few years later…_

An eighteen-year-old Otto impatiently loosened his silver necktie. Today was graduation, and he stood in line with the rest of the Alpha Stream behind a girl with the surname Locke and in front of a guy with the surname Marcelo.

They were going to march, and since it was organized by surname, Franz, Laura, Wing, Nigel, and Luminita were up front, Claire in the middle, all the while he was almost at the back, thought not quite near to Kent, Shelby, and Kielo.

The boys wore black suits with silver neckties and shiny leather shoes, while the girls wore black dresses that floated above the floor. The graduation was being held near a cliff, strangely enough.

At long last, the music began to play. "The Alpha Stream, students specifically educated to govern over others, gifted with enough wit and cunning to put every plan in action without failure," was Nero's introduction to their march.

As they sat down, he inspected his surroundings. The girls had some sort of black adornment in their hair, and the necklines reached to their clavicles. The boys were as impatient as he was moments ago, displeased at the news of their graduation attire.

His eyes strayed over to the back. Kent's hair was still short, and there was a single black feather they pinned in her hair. Her hands were gloved. They listened to Nero do his speech, mainly telling them how proud he really was that they survived those six years, especially with what happened when Otto was around.

Finally, diplomas were being given away. Each name was called, starting with the Alphas. Laura was the first among them that got her diploma. They stepped forward.

"Wing Chen Fanchu.(1)" Wing was still the tallest among the whole batch, but it seemed still humanely possible for him to grow even _taller_, and so he towered over Nero at 6'5". Nobody complained, since that was Wing. He was tall, he had a ponytail, and he was expressionless.

"Luminita Yelizaveta Funar." Luminita stepped forward and shook Nero's hand. Luminita and Nero were almost at eye level now, something Luminita wanted ever since she saw Wing (and his tallness). (2)

"Clarissa Alison Archer Haruno." Claire still retained the duplicitous twinkle in her eyes, and today her hair was swept up in a neat bun with a silver ribbon to accent.

Many names were called after that, until they finally got to Otto.

"Otto Malpense."

He stepped on the stage. He took his diploma, and shook Nero's hand. It was soft. Like it hadn't done anything in about twenty or so years (3). He bowed at the side of the stage, and then made his way down.

When he got back to his seat, he was still able to watch the others receive their own diplomas. There was one girl who tripped and fell down, one boy who ripped his diploma, and another boy who fell down the stairs.

"Innokentiy Thomas." Kent slinked forward like a cat. She took her diploma, shook Nero's hand, and mouthed a small goodbye to Nero's guardian angel. She bowed, and her bangs fell a little in her eyes. She went down the stairs and made her way back to her seat in the back.

The Technical Stream was called, then the Political Stream, and then the Henchman Stream. After the ceremony, everyone said their goodbyes.

Otto wanted to go to the back and stay with _her _there, before she was all gone. She beat him to his seat. He knew that somehow, maybe if he'd keep her here long enough, she wouldn't go anymore, and he wouldn't have to go through the pain of realizing that was her leaving him alone.

……………….

Wing looked at his diploma. This certified that he was free, he could go, and he could just go and do what he pleased. But something stopped him.

She sat there. She too looked at her diploma, probably thinking what she was going to do now. Her lies were now complicated and undetectable, since she'd even studied micro expressions just to make them even more true-sounding. She could defend herself now too, after Wing made a point to teach her after a brief excursion to New York.

"I've been recruited," Claire began, not looking up. "To be one of the agents in the mafia. They know how good I am of a liar, and they want to put me to good use."

She looked at him. Usually she broke terrible news to him like this. _If by the off chance my lies aren't good enough for them, Wing, I have to sell myself to them. It's part of deception. _

"That's… good. Congratulations," he said. "Wing, I'm sorry. I really am. For every damned lie I told you. You made me promise, right? That I wouldn't lie to you anymore? I kept that promise, Wing, I did. I never told you anything but the truth," she said, grasping his hand. He put his hand on top of hers. "I can see that. Everything you've ever told me since then was true."

"I guess we'll meet again? Just don't sneak up on me," she said with a smile. He smiled back. "Someday."

…………………

Luminita and Kielo did their last goodbye hug. "Tell me what Finland is like, okay? I want everything. Absolutely EVERYTHING."

Kielo smiled at her friend. "You can just hack and I don't have to tell you." Luminita laughed. "Yeah right, with how careful you are? I don't think I'll find anything." Kielo laughed too. "I'm gonna miss you. Visit, okay? Call my name, I'll be there." She grasped her best friend's hand. "Yeah, and I'll light some candles and hold a séance," Luminita joked.

"Oh shut up, will you. My ride's here," Kielo said, gesturing to the shadow over the cliff. She gave the Romanian one last hug. "See you around!"

…………………..

Otto didn't ever want her to go. She was utterly fine killing people and coming back to him afterward. He didn't care less that she would probably be stubborn.

"Otto, I'm going to have to go real soon," Kent said, standing up. "Let me take you to the cliff, at least," he replied, also standing up.

She nodded, and proceeded outside. A few feet from the edge of the cliff, they stopped there. "Before you go, I wanted to tell you…," he began, but he was cut off by her running and shedding the second skin of her dress. Her black assassin attire was left. He sprinted to catch up with her.

"I-"

"Love you," she said before making a swan dive into the sea. As she became a small black speck in the blue ocean, he realized there was something in his hands.

A black feather.

Wing appeared, not making Otto jump. "Where is Kent?" He asked, looking at Otto. "She left," he croaked. "What do you mean she left?" Asked Claire, popping up beside Wing.

"She's gone."

**

* * *

Sad. That ends D&CH. Oh right, I have to explain. **

**(1) Not sure what to write here, since I did base this off an actual graduation, where they read middle names. **

**(2) Luminita wants to get tall. She got her wish after a few years. :P**

**(3) Nero uses lotion too. Deal with it.  
**

**Time for my acknowledgements. **

**I'd like to thank, first and foremost, the dear friend who introduced me to H.I.V.E., White Replica, who also happened to be the first to review this story when I posted it. My life truly began when I read H.I.V.E. I am forever in your debt. **

**Secondly, I'd like to thank the other people who reviewed: CandyPandaBear, LOVEG&P, PrecieuxDeLaRue, Chelra, twifan3101226, Wanderingnote, WULINK, Libby, CC, chanchanman, Reensie17, flying high 12, and everybody else who read my stories, liked it, then forgot to review!**

**Thirdly, I'd like to thank the two fans of my story: Tera and Tammy. You guys bug me in every text to update, and you beg me almost every time I'm free to tell you what happens in Fresco. You two patiently listen to me ramble, get distracted, lose my train of thought, and you ardently tell me what I was rambling about. I guess those times will be limited, since we don't share the library anymore. I thank you for listening to me talk nonsense. **

**Fourthly (I don't know if that word exists), I'd like to thank my other fan, Leila. She loves Wing dearly, and thus I was inspired. She tells me to update too, but when I do, she doesn't read it. I hope this reaches you, love! :D  
**

**Fiftly (still don't know if that exists), I'd like to thank you, if you've had the patience to read all this crap I wrote.  
**

**Lastly, I'd like to thank my mother and my father but most of all my parents. ;)**


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